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St Christopher, Willingale Doe

 

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The village of Willingale has two churches in a shared churchyard, for historically there were two parishes here, Willingale Spain and Willingale Doe, named after the manors. The benefices were combined in the 1920s, and Willingale Spain church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. St Christopher, the former church of Willingale Doe, now serves the whole village and parish. As often around here it was a fairly complete 14th Century church, but in the 1850s Joseph Clarke came along to rebuild the tower, replace the windows and to reface the exterior walls. This was not a decade known for its sensitivity towards restoration, and as James Bettley notes in his revision of the Buildings of England volume for Essex, even at the time it was thought that he went too far, the flint exterior has no untouched features... George Buckler wrote in 1856 that 'it has undergone such considerable alterations as almost to deprive it of its antiquarian interest'. Perhaps it had been a very good church indeed, but a century and a half have mellowed Clarke's work and we might think there is less to complain about now. The interior is clean and bright, and the crispness is due to a more recent restoration than Clarke's, but it has left a number of features of interest highlighted. Principal among these is the Wiseman memorial of the 1640s in the chancel. Richard and Mary Wiseman kneel opposite each other across a prayer desk in the familiar style of the period, but below them, as if he were in the cellar, their son Robert reclines. An impressive brass of two centuries earlier depicts Thomas Torrell in his armour, while two post-Reformation figure brasses also survive, both to women. Ann Torrell died in 1582 and Dorothy Brewster in 1613. The font is a Perpendicular piece with shields of the 15th Century. It would probably once have been painted. The most memorable glass is that to Major Arthur T Saulez of the Royal Field Artillery who was killed in 1917. It shows his body supported and comforted by two young women while angels look on. The inscription beneath tells us that Saulez was twice mentioned in dispatches, killed in action near Arras April 22nd 1917. This window was erected by the officers, NCOs and men of his battery as a slight token of affection and esteem. The glass was the work of Felix Joubert who, despite his name, was an English Arts and Crafts artist with a sideline in faking antique furnishings. He had a studio in the Pheasantry in the Kings Road, Chelsea, a building that would become better known in the 1960s as a venue for psychedelic happenings and in the first years of the new decade for early London gigs by the likes of Hawkwind, the Velvet Underground and even Queen. Simon Knott, December 2021 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
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