DISCOVERY IN CHURCH

Evening Star, Issue 20314, 24 October 1929, Page 1

DISCOVERY IN CHURCH

FIFTEENTH CENTURY SCREEN .Thanks to a craftsman there has been discovered at Soutlnvold Church, Suffolk, what is described by Professor Tristram, of the South Kensington Museum, as at least the second {most screen in England. The discovery was made when sections of the damaged carving of th» screen arches wore being taken down. A workman employed by the church council experimented on removing the dirt from the wood. Tie found that the fifteenth century golds, reds, purples, and greens were actually in perfect condition, and extraordinarily fresh. Professor Tristram has undertaken the work of cleaning the screen. Recently lie has been engaged on similar work at Westminster Abbey and Winchester Cathedral. The Rev. A. T. Woodman Dowding, the vicar, said that there is only one other screen which has the blue cornflower down the sides. “Tin's fixes a date to it.” lie added, “.since wo know' exactly when that particnl.gr flower was introduced into England from. Cyprus. The broken carving of the screen is also to be restored, at a cost of about £250, by Mr Howard, of Norwich, a. famous-craftsman, whoso work in tho churches of Attleborough, Blakency, and other Norfolk villages is well known. •, , .“.One. panel and.' arch arc to W ; , cleaned first, ami then it should be possible to estimate the total cost. Two of tho arches of (he screen will be leftin the present state, unrcstoml and nnoleanod, so as to give arcluoologists and visitors an idea of the nature and extent of the work which Ims been done.” In Sonthwold Church at least £I,OOO lias been spent since 102-1 on various improvements, including a new revedos. a new lectern, and the restoration of tlie Lady of the Chapel on the south side. Tills was undertaken early in the year, as a memorial to the Holmes family, and the restored ch apel, which - bad been merely an ugly extension of the pewing system, with a raised wooden door put in sixty years ago. was dedicated by the bishop on April l.\ The Lady Chapel is now one of the most beautiful and impressive parts of the church. Under the wood floor a number of fifteenth century tiles were discovered, and those have been incorporated in the new floor, formed mainly of Suffolk pammonts. Two large fragments of the original stone altar were found and laid in the floor next to tin* oast end wall. Hero, aho, was found the tombstone of John Bisehop, who was bailiff of Sonthwold when the town received its charter from King Henry VH. Tho children of the church raised their own fund to give the church its handsome weathervaiie. Representing a Soutlnvold longshore fishing boat, it, was designed by Mr Andrew Crittcn. one of tin' churchwardens, a well-known yachtsman of the Rroads, and tho son. of a notable boathnilder. No story of Soutlnvold Church would he complete without a word about' “Jack tho Sniiter.” This striking armoured figure, 4ft -lin in height, and contemporary with the church itself, has now, after many undignified shifting*, been restored to its proper place on a ledge at tho west end of tin*, church, beneath the tower, where his hatchet and bell used to regulate tho striking of the church clock.