St Mary's Church is a
redundant
Redundancy or redundant may refer to:
Language
* Redundancy (linguistics), information that is expressed more than once
Engineering and computer science
* Data redundancy, database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more table ...
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Chilton,
Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
, England. It is a
Grade I listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
,
and is in the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
.
The church is about south of the
Tudor Chilton Hall and east-northeast of the centre of
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to:
Places Australia
* Sudbury Reef, Queensland
Canada
* Greater Sudbury, Ontario
** Sudbury (federal electoral district)
** Sudbury (provincial electoral district)
** Sudbury Airport
** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...
. To the north and east it is surrounded by farmland. To the south and west are the Sudbury eastern bypass and associated modern buildings on the outskirts of Sudbury.
[
]
History
The nave and chancel of the church are Perpendicular Gothic
Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...
, built of flint in the 15th century. The south porch is also flint, but with brick quoins.
In the 16th century the Crane chapel north of the chancel and the west tower were added, and a Tudor window was inserted in the nave over the north doorway. All the 16th-century additions are built of brick.
The Crane chapel was built as a chantry
A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings:
# a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or
# a chantry chapel, a b ...
chapel housing the table tombs of George Crane, who died in 1491, and Robert Crane, who died in 1500, and his wife. There is an alabaster
Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...
recumbent effigy of George Crane on his tomb. After the Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
the chapel continued as the Crane family mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...
with the addition of the wall-mounted monument to Sir Robert Crane, 1st Baronet
Sir Robert Crane, 1st Baronet (1586 – February 1643) of Chilton, Suffolk and of Buckenham Tofts, Norfolk, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1614 and 1643.
Crane was the son of Henry Crane of Chi ...
and his two wives. Sir Robert died in 1643 but he had the monument carved in 1626 by Gerard Christmas.[
The ]William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library (Clark Library), is a library affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds books and manuscripts with particularly many regarding English literature and history from the 17th-19th ...
, part of the University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
has a unique manuscript of a sermon preached at St Mary's by Matthew Lawrence
Matthew Lawrence (born Matthew William Mignogna; February 11, 1980) is an American actor, podcaster and singer, widely known for his roles in '' Mrs. Doubtfire'', ''Boy Meets World'' and ''Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad''. Lawrence also starred ...
at the time Ipswich Town Preacher. This was delivered at the marriage ceremony of Anne Crane, the daughter of Sir Robert Crane to Sir William Armine, 2nd Baronet
Sir William Armine, 2nd Baronet (14 July 1622 – 2 January 1658) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1646 to 1653.
Armine was born at Ruckholt,[Sir William Armine, 1st Baronet
Sir William Armine, 1st Baronet (11 December 1593 – 10 April 1651) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1651. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. (His name was als ...]
, who had requested a copy. He had been a patron of Matthew Lawrence for many years. The book was previously owned by the antiquarian, John Eglington Bailey
John Eglington Bailey (1840–1888) was an English antiquary, Secretary of the Chetham Society and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
Life
Born at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 13 February 1840, he was the son of Charles Bailey, by his wife Ma ...
and the designer, Richard Harding Watt.Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part ...
merged the benefice
A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
with that of St Gregory's Church, Sudbury and declared St Mary's redundant. In the 1980s the church building was vested in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
Architecture
The west tower has substantial brick angle buttresses. The tower and nave have flint battlement
A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...
s and the tower has crocket
A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the Old French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of a crocket to a bishop's Shepherd's crook, ...
ted pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...
s at the four corners. The Crane chapel is of two bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
and its two northern corners have diagonal buttresses. The south porch has a moulded brick parapet.[
]
See also
*
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, Saint Mary
15th-century church buildings in England
Church of England church buildings in Suffolk
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust
English Gothic architecture in Suffolk
Grade I listed churches in Suffolk
Babergh District