St Peter And St Paul's Church, Lavenham
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St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham is a
Grade I listed 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 ...
parish church in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
Pevsner, N. (1974),
The Buildings of England: Suffolk
',
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
,
in
Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the Babergh District, Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Lavenham Guildhall, Guildhall, Little ...
,
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 ...
. It is a notable
wool church A wool church is an English church financed primarily by donations from rich merchants and farmers who had benefitted from the medieval wool trade, hoping to ensure a place in heaven due to their largesse. Wool churches are common in the Cotswo ...
and regarded as one of the finest examples of Late Perpendicular Gothic architecture in England.


History

A church has existed on the current site, in a prominent position to the west of the town, since
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
times. The original church, which was probably wooden, was rebuilt in stone in the 14th century. The chancel is the oldest part of the current church, having been constructed in and decorated with money from wealthy citizens, including Thomas Spring II. In the decades following the
Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...
the town of Lavenham grew rich as a result of the booming wool trade. The 14th-century church was added to and modified several times in order to convey the new wealth of its religious community. The eastern vestry, built in 1440, is the only other remaining part of the previous church building. Following the victory of Henry VII at the
Battle of Bosworth Field The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of House of Lancaster, Lancaster and House of York, York that extended across England in the latter half ...
in 1485, the
Earl of Oxford Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, first created for Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, Aubrey de Vere by the Empress Matilda in 1141. De Vere family, His family was to hold the title for more than five and a half cen ...
, a major local landowner and commander of Henry's army, suggested that the church should be rebuilt in the latest style to celebrate the new Tudor king. However, it is likely that plans were already underway to rebuild the church in order to reflect the growing prosperity of Lavenham. The reconstruction of the church took place mainly between 1485 and 1525. The architect is thought to have been
John Wastell John Wastell ( – 1518) was an English gothic architect and master mason responsible for the fan vaulted ceiling and other features of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, the crossing tower (Bell Harry Tower) of Canterbury Cathedral, and sections ...
, who built the
Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge St Mary the Great is a Church of England parish and university church at the north end of King's Parade in central Cambridge, England. It is known locally as Great St Mary's or simply GSM to distinguish it from " Little St Mary's". It is one of ...
, which is very similar.St Peter and St Paul, Lavenham
Suffolk Churches
The building is late perpendicular in its design, and regarded as one of the finest churches built in that style. It was also one of the last churches to be completed before the
English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
. The extraordinary cost of the work was paid for by the local merchant families, who had become amongst the wealthiest in England. The same families continued to pay for the upkeep of the building, in some cases for centuries after its completion. The two principal donors for church were the 13th Earl of Oxford and the cloth merchant,
Thomas Spring of Lavenham Thomas Spring (c. 1474 – 1523) (''alias'' Thomas Spring III or The Rich Clothier) of Lavenham in Suffolk, was an English people, English cloth merchant.Phil W Kaufman, ''American Traces in Anglian Places'' (Lulu.com), 19. He consolidated his fa ...
. As such, the building is decorated with the
coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achiev ...
of the
Spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...
and de Vere families. The Spring arms, as well as the merchant's mark of Thomas Spring, appears over thirty times on the exterior of the building, while the star of the de Vere family surrounds the top of the tower. A screen in the south aisle was possibly intended as a chantry chapel for the clothier Thomas Spourne, although his remains do not lie here, whilst the parclose screen in the north aisle was to the chantry of the Spring family, later ennobled by
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
. The remains of Thomas Spring lie in the church and there are several monuments erected to his descendants, such as
Francis Spring Sir Francis Joseph Edward Spring (20 January 1849 – 25 August 1933) was an Anglo-Irish civil engineer and member of the Imperial Legislative Council who played a pioneering role in development of the Indian Railways. Spring is largely reme ...
. North of the chancel is the Branch Chapel dating from around 1500 and south of the chancel is the Spring Chapel dating from around 1525. The church was extensively restored by
Francis Penrose Francis Cranmer Penrose Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (29 October 1817 – 15 February 1903) was an English architect, archaeologist, astronomer and rowing (sport), sportsman rower. He served as Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral ...
between 1861 and 1867. The diplomat, Sir
Cecil Spring Rice Sir Cecil Arthur Spring Rice, (27 February 1859 – 14 February 1918) was a British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to the United States from 1912 to 1918, as which he was responsible for the organisation of British efforts to end ...
, gave substantial funds for repair work to the tower in the 20th century. Today, the church is one of the most visited in
East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...
. It was awarded four stars by
Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins FLSW (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust f ...
in his 1999 book ''England's Thousand Best Churches''. Jenkins, S. (1999), ''England's Thousand Best Churches'', London:
Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
,
Jenkins writes:
"Many enthusiasts prefer it to Long Melford, finding it less ostentatious, more serene. To the purist, its tower is more original, its nave more Perpendicular, and its chancel arch more majestic. Against this must be set the dire Victorian glass but for that at least there is an easy answer. ... Lavenham's interior is one of the most dramatic in Suffolk."


Furnishings

The church contains five 15th-century
misericord A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a p ...
s featuring imagery such as composite creatures; one, half-woman, half beast playing a
viol The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...
, and another, half-man with the hindquarters and tail of a beast, mimicking her by playing a pair of bellows with a crutch. Another shows a
pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...
with her chicks, and another depicts a man holding a pig. There are numerous other outstanding fittings, including a painted
rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...
dating from and an octagonal font also from the 14th century which is much worn. Parclose screens front both the Branch and Spring chapels. The wonderfully carved Spourne
parclose A parclose screen is a screen or railing used to enclose or separate-off a chantry chapel, tomb or manorial chapel, from public areas of a church, for example from the nave or chancel. It should be distinguished from the chancel screen which sep ...
screen protects the tomb of John Ponder (d. 1520). Funeral monuments range from the 15th to 17th centuries and include one small memorial brass to an infant, showing the child wrapped in blankets. The carved figures of St Peter and St Paul above the porch were sculpted by Eric Winters and installed in 1965. The
wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
gates at the entrance to the porch were made by local
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
Edgar Clark Lingley (1822-1888) as were the latch and handle on the doors, which date from 1865. The porch gates were made previously.


Tower and bells

Work started on the tower in 1486 and was completed in 1495. However, due to a large sum of money being left in the will of Thomas Spring, further work was undertaken in the early 16th century, resulting in the unusual size and grandeur of the tower today. It is built in four stages, of knapped flint and stone with rare clasping
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es. The tower ring comprises eight bells. The tenor weighs 21 cwt 7 lb, and was cast by
Miles Graye Miles Graye was a dynasty of English bell-founders; who had foundries in Colchester and Saffron Walden in Essex, during the 17th-century. It is believed that the family cast over 415 bells, many of which remain in use today.
of
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...
in 1625. The Lavenham Deanery guidebook says the bell has been described as "the finest toned bell in England, probably in the world". The bell is rung whenever a member of the
royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...
dies. The church clock, which has no external dial, was made by Thomas Watts in 1775; an hour strike and quarter chimes were installed to mark
Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey, and a banquet to which ...
. The tower is 138 feet (42 metres) high.


Clergy

The Puritan divine, William Gurnall, known for his 1655–62 literary work ''The Christian in Complete Armour'', and also as one of the few Puritans who conformed to the
Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 ( 14 Cha. 2. c. 4) is an act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayer ...
, was Rector of St Peter and St Paul from 1644 until his death in 1679.''William Gurnall'', J. C. Ryle
/ref> *Godfrey de Merk 1260 *Godfried 1280 *Nicholas de Wytcherch 1302 *Robert de Elmham 1312 *Robert de Stoke 1334 *William de Lavenham 1354 *John de Pelham 1361 *John Poland 1386 *John Pygot 1400 *John Saddle 1416 *William Fallam 1444 *William Morton 1453 *George Vere 1459 *John Walter 1462 *Henry Boost 1475 *Thomas Ashby 1477 *John Gigles 1486 *Thomas Appleton 1497 *Thomas Stackhouse 1508 *William Basse 1529 *Christopher Chapman 1558 *William Day DD 1569 *William Reynolds 1571 *Henry Copinger DD 1578 *Ambrose Copinger DD 1622 * William Gurnall MA 1644 *Roger Young MA 1679 *William Turner MA 1688 *Thomas Kinnersley MA 1710 *Robert Wright MA 1729 *John Squaire MA 1730 *John Davy MA 1763 *James Buck MA 1792 *William Okes MA 1825 *Richard Johnson 1825 *Joseph Morrison Croker MA 1855 *Thomas Scott MA 1891 *Alex Tweedie MA 1907 *William Bonner Leighton Hopkins MA 1907 *George Hugh Lenox Conyngham MA 1917 *Martin Fountain Page MA 1933 *Henry Cotton MA 1952 *Rex Bird 1965 *Harry Crichton 1976 *Dennis Pearce 1986 *Derrick Malcolm Stiff 1994 *Nicholas Woodcock 2003 *Stephen Earl *Simon Pitcher


References


External links


Church website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavenham Church of England church buildings in Suffolk Grade I listed churches in Suffolk Religious buildings and structures completed in 1525 ** English Gothic architecture in Suffolk St Peter and St Paul's Church