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All Saints, Wrabness

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Down a narrow lane off of the busy Manningtree to Harwich road sits this little church on a ridge overlooking the Stour, with a fine view of the Royal Hospital School at Holbrook in Suffolk on the north bank. The tower collpased in the 18th Century, and rather than go to the expense of building a new one they replaced the bells in a wooden bellcage beside the church as at nearby East Bergholt. The parish name has its stress on the first syllable, Wrab-n'ss, to rhyme with drabness, but that isn't something you'll experience here. This church is open every day says the notice on the door, and you step into a bright interior which is pretty much all of it 1990s restoration, with a wooden floor and modern wooden chairs. The chancel has been left pretty much as it was after the 19th Century restoration. Everything is neat and orderly and clearly much loved. There are a couple of earlier survivals, most notably a curious font. It is entirely in the late medieval East Anglian style, octagonal with symbols of the evangelists, and yet it is extraordinarily narrow, as if it had been carved from memory by someone who had not remembered the conventional proportions. The royal arms is one of the cast iron George IV sets which are common in this part of Essex. A sign asks visitors to make themselves a cup of tea or coffee and have a biscuit. Thoroughly welcoming then, a pleasure to visit. Simon Knott, May 2020 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