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St Thomas, Bradwell on Sea

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Bradwell on Sea is best known for the rugged, isolated chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, set hauntingly out on the end of the peninsula looking out into the Blackwater and the grey North Sea beyond. It was established by St Cedd before the end of the 7th Century and is considered by many to be England's oldest church. But up in the centre of the village is the parish church, a much politer proposition. The setting beside the pub and the school is delightful, and with the mounting block at the gate and the parish lock-up in the churchyard it is as if it were a model English village church in an open-air museum. The 18th Century red brick tower and the scattered brick and clunch walls of the nave and chancel give it very much an East Anglian feel, as does the pretty 14th Century wooden south porch which was actually transported here from St Mary Magdalene, Shopland, when that was demolished in the 1950s. The arches have recently been glazed and the entrance filled with beautiful glass doors engraved with images of St Thomas and St Cedd, allowing the inner doors to be left open. The nave is actually contemporary with the tower, a rebuilding after dereliction but still in a wholly 14th Century style. You step inside to an interior which is crisp and neat, the result of the early 21st Century reordering and restoration which also glazed the porch. This rebuilt the west gallery and moved it further east, helping dispel the gloom induced by Frederick Chancellor's restoration of the 1870s. Now, the church is full of light, perfectly fitting for 21st Century Anglican spirituality. There is some decent late 19th and early 20th Century glass, but the real feature of interest here is the late Norman font which is unlike anything I've ever seen before - four big ugly grinning heads peep out from underneath the bowl as if supporting it. People cleaning the church were very polite and welcoming, even offering me a cup of tea, but it was time to head as far east as it is possible to go and revisit St Peter-on-the-Wall. Simon Knott, April 2018 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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home - index - latest - e-mail
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Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
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