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St James, Great Saling

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Despite the name, and as often in north Essex, there isn't really a village of any size. This is a scattered parish, a few hamlets clustering along doglegging lanes in the rolling agricultural landscape. Some large houses gather where the lanes come together, and this church sits back from the road in the grounds of the Hall, a secretive adornment. The crisp exterior tells of an overwhelming series of restorations in the 1850s and 1860s that not only refaced the walls of the 14th Century tower and nave, but rebuilt the chancel, vestry and south porch. It is with no surprise then that you enter a church which feels entirely of the mid-19th Century. Everything was renewed in the fashion of the day, leaving a hushed, rather dark space where not much else has happened since. It is a real period piece. Every window is filled with glass by major 19th Century workshops including Clayton & Bell and Lavers, Barraud & Westlake. The High Victorian chancel is home to a tiled reredos by RJ Withers which James Bettley tells us was singled out for praise by The Ecclesiologist magazine at the time. Clearly no expense was spared, and it was probably bankrolled by William Fowke who owned the Hall. The only survivals from before the restoration are two memorials, one of the late 18th Century and the other of the early 19th Century. A private gate in the churchyard wall leads through to the 16th Century Hall, a memory of the Hall's long patronage. Church and Hall here form a group that was so much more common before the First World War. The impact of the War and consequent mechanisation would change the English rural landscape and its patterns of ownership forever. So, worth seeing for that alone. Simon Knott, December 2021 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
www.simonknott.co.uk