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St John, Twinstead

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Twinstead is a quiet little village on its own in the hills above the Stour and the Suffolk border, but at its heart is a superlative 19th Century church, most unexpected if you didn't know it was there. The architect was the articulate Henry Woodyer who had been a pupil of William Butterfield. His enthusiasm for his master's work and that of Pugin, who he also much admired, is clear here. Although it is a relatively simple church of nave and chancel without aisles or tower, it is the attention to detail which is striking, the use of polychromatic brick and stone dressing, Early English and Decorated window tracery, and all in all much to remind you of Butterfield's pattern book church of All Saints Margaret Street in London which had been completed just the previous year. And yet it is mindful of its setting, and feels like a rural church, not an urban one. It is every bit as ecclesiastical as one could hope for said Pevsner, despite its modest size and plan. You step into an interior which does not disappoint, for here the polychrome is continued in the walls above seemly furnishings which look east through a stone screen into a shadowy chancel organised for incense-led worship. The glass is a single scheme by Hardman & Co (remarkably good - Pevsner). The church replaced a poor 18th Century predecessor which in turn had replaced a medieval church, an etching of which hangs at the back of the church, looking much like a smaller version of neighbouring Pebmarsh. Outside in the churchyard is a splendid High Victorian moment, a memorial cross decorated with encaustic tiles. More sobering is a memorial to the north of the chancel which remembers four brothers aged between ten and eighteen, sons of Mr and Mrs Harrington, killed by accident 3rd September 1944. The boys had been messing about on one of the ammunition dumps beside the neighbouring airfield when a shell they were playing with exploded. Their grave is still lovingly tended by the villagers. Simon Knott, December 2021 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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home - index - latest - e-mail
links - small print - about this site
Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
www.simonknott.co.uk