Our arrival in Penallt, and a visit Monmouth

Monmouth was an area which we had not explored before, having just passed below it on our way to Pembrokeshire in the past. We had a good journey, despite moderately heavy traffic, stopping at Reading service station on the M4, which looked as it had been invaded by hundreds of pensioners - bus loads of them.!!

Having left the M48, we descended rapidly onto very narrow Welsh roads until, and without too much trouble, we arrived at Annie’s Cottage. It was in a beautiful spot and was really well equipped and spotlessly clean.

Annie's Cottage 

The view from the cottage toward Monmouth soon after we arrived. 

Sunday was a different story (below) with mist rising from the valley and providing a great backdrop to the Old Church just a few meters from our cottage. 

Penallt Old Church as the mist cleared 

There are indications of a church on the site in 1254 and an internal batter to the north wall of the nave, that suggest that the present church is a rebuilding of an earlier structure. But most of what survives today is of the late C15 or early C16, with the lower half of the tower probably early C14 and then heightened in the mid C17, probably to accommodate the bells, the earliest of which is dated 1662. The new St Mary's Church had already been built in Pentwyn in 1869 with a resident curate, and this was much closer to the centre of the local population; St Mary's, Penallt then became known as the Old Church. 

The remains of a Preaching Cross in the churchyard. In the 6th and 7th centuries, wooden crosses marked the spots where priests or monks preached to the local community. The wooden cross was replaced by a more permanent stone cross, around which services were held. Later still a wooden church might well have been erected, perhaps the forerunner of the existing church? 

View from the church door. 

On the door centre is a carved heart, symbol of love, containing the initials I H S, the Latin initials for `Jesus Saviour of mankind`. with the date 1539. 

An old Parish chest, carved out of a single tree, in which the records and treasures of the community were kept in medieval times. 

The octagonal shaped font from the C17, the bowl being carved from a single stone block. One of the industries of Penallt used to be the manufacture of millstones, which were then rolled down the hill and loaded onto barges bound for Bristol. 

The original stone altar retrieved from the floor of the porch and now located in the aisle.

A record of the days when people left monies, or as in this case land, for the church and the poor of the parish, usually so that prays would be said for the soul of the departed to speed it through Purgatory! 

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Wingfield - a short visit

The story of Wingfield, Suffolk, is the story of two powerful families; the Wingfields and the De la Poles, Earls of Suffolk. The church of St Andrew nextdoor is tied to both families.

St Andrew's was begun in its present form by Sir John de Wingfield in 1362, as a collegiate church, that is, administered by a college of priests rather than placed under the care of a rector. Sir John's tomb lies within the chancel that he built, and there are later memorials to generations of Wingfields and de la Poles. 

Wingfield College is now a private family home. But its history goes back over 650 years. It has kept the name of college because it is the remnant of the chantry college founded by Sir John de Wingfield in 1362. Sir John was a soldier of high reputation in the reign of Edward III, and Chief Counsellor of the Black Prince. In 1355 he accompanied him to Languedoc, and some letters of Sir John’s written during the campaign still survive as important records of the War. He fought at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and made a fortune from ransom money, by selling the captured members of the French aristocracy. 

In the church there are in fact three outstanding tombs to be seen. The earliest one is of Sir John Wingfield himself, whose widow Alianore carried out his wishes in 1362 to found the Chantry College and to make Wingfield a Collegiate Church. The college buildings survive at the heart of later buildings just to the south of the church.

The college chaplains were required to say Mass daily for Wingfield's soul, and to provide parish priests for Wingfield and the surrounding parishes. The college also had an educational function, preparing students for university entrance.

Sir John Wingfield, whose family had owned the manor of Wingfield for generations, survived the Black Death, and perhaps as a form of thanksgiving he established the college of Priests here in Wingfield in his will of 1361. Wingfield's personal fortunes had been bolstered by marrying his daughter into one of the parvenu families which rose to prominence in the 14th century. These people were merchants and traders in the northern coastal city of Kingston upon Hull, nearly two hundred miles away, but theirs was a name which would come to be intimately linked with the county of Suffolk. They were the de la Poles.

Another of the impressive memorials in the church is to Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who died of dysentery at the Siege of Harfleur in 1415, while on campaign with Henry V. Sir Michael and his wife Katherine are represented by life-sized effigies. Unusually, both effigies are made of painted wood.
Wingfield's grandson, Michael de la Pole, inherited the Wingfield estates. He built the fortified manor house known as Wingfield Castle, and in the later decades of the century and the early years of the next, he oversaw a massive rebuilding of the church. Only the low tower was left from Sir John's day.

You can see where the church was extended by Michael de la Pole in or around 1430. Also note the tower which was the only part of the original John Wingfield building.

The son of Michael de la Pole, John de la Pole, second Duke of Suffolk, was a notable figure in Shakespeare's Henry VI parts I and II. Wounded at Harfleur, he watched his brother die at Agincourt: All my mother came into mine eyes and gave me up to tears. 

The most powerful man in England, equivalent of Prime Minister and leader of the military, he surrendered at Orleans to Joan of Arc in person, and his family paid £20,000 for his release, roughly ten million in today's money, but a drop in the ocean to them.

John ended up in his grave rather earlier than he might have expected. Exiled for five years under tenuous circumstances, he was murdered by Henry VI's henchmen as the ship taking him into exile left Dover. 

The alabaster effigies (above) lie on an elaborate tomb chest carved around the base with quatrefoils enclosing shields. Sir John's head rests on a Saracen's head and helmet to which paint still clings. The Duchess is far less warlike; her head rests on a pillow, supported by angels. Both of the effigies are shown with their feet resting on lions. 

At the west end of the church is a beautifully carved font in East Anglian style, dated 1407. The font bowl is carved with alternating figures of lions and angels holding heraldic shields. The stem is supported by carved figures of lions.

A device to allow you to mount your horse, with dignity, in the churchyard at St Mary`s, Wingfield.

Glorious mixture of flowers in the churchyard.

 Index of posts

Helmingham Hall Estate

Helmingham Hall is a moated manor house in Helmingham, Suffolk, England. It was begun by John Tollemache in 1480 and has been owned by the Tollemache family ever since. The house is built around a courtyard in typical late medieval/Tudor style. The present Helmingham Hall may have been initially constructed in 1510 on the site of an earlier house called Creke Hall. The exterior was altered between 1745–1760, again in 1800 by John Nash, and in 1840. The original half-timbered walls have been concealed by brick and tiles. 

The house is surrounded by a moat, over which it is reached only by two working drawbridges, which have been pulled up every night since 1510. These were originally operated with a windlass but in recent years this has been replaced by an electric motor. 

Queen Elizabeth I is said to have twice visited Helmingham: first in 1561, and later to attend the christening of Lionel Tollemache as her godchild. Lionel Tollemache marked the first of ten consecutive generations of the family with that name. Furthermore, Helmingham has been privileged to receive Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal Family on many occasions over the last few years. 

The house is not open to the public and Helmingham is best known for its fine garden, which is open on a regular basis. It is a semi-formal mixed garden with extensive borders, a rose garden, a knot garden, a parterre and an orchard. Beyond the garden there is a 400-acre park with herds of red and Fallow Deer. 

On a very dull and misty morning we set off across the deer park, dodging between trees so as not to scare the deer too much. (we must have looked quite a sight!)

Having only a 200 mm lens, I was pleased with the images I did manage to capture.

Of course, however stealthy you try to be, the deer are well aware of your presence. 

Two young Fallow deer playing at what will be a serious business as they mature. 

On our wander we came across this obelisk, which is about 20 m high and standing on a mound about 7 m high. 

It`s made of red brick, and has a square plinth about 2.5 m high and has a square sinking in each face. The needle-formed obelisk rises without interruption, tapering to a width of 0.5m at the head. 

The mound was part of an 18 century wilderness garden; a summerhouse of c.1760, together with a brick wall, was demolished and the bricks reused in the obelisk in about 1860.

Throughout the park there are numerous wonderful trees, some dead like this one, but which made a picture, I thought.

In the north-west corner of the park is a small brick and flint bridge, described as 'new' in a document dated 1815 (Williamson 1995). I am hoping it is this one - or maybe the other one! 

The front of the Hall from the driveway, it not being accessible at this time of year. The gardens, but not the Hall, are open from May until mid September. We shall return to see the gardens another time. 

A herd of Red deer disturbed by us as we approached. 

The Church of St Mary on the edge of the park has connections with the Tollemache family dating back to the Middle Ages. St Mary is in fact that rare thing in Suffolk, an estate church. 

The Tollemache family were living here in the 15th century, and it was John Tollemache who signed the contract for the tower in 1488 - it survives in the Bodleian Library. 

One of the most striking feature of this church is what appears to be a dormer window to the rood along the south side of the nave. These exist at St Nicholas in Ipswich, and you might think this is something similar. In fact, it isn't. It was installed after the Reformation to accommodate a very large memorial moved here from the church at Bentley, the Tollemache family's other seat. And this is the key thing about this building today; it memorialises more than any other Suffolk building the dead of a single family. You step inside, and are surrounded on all sides by elaborate Tollemache memorials - I mean lots of them! 

The dormer window mentioned above. 

The highlight of a visit to St Mary are the magnificent memorial to generations of the Tollemache family. The most imposing of these was erected in 1615 in memory of the 1st Baronet, who died in 1550. The monument also commemorates 3 further generations of the Tollemache family, all named Lionel, who died in 1553, 1575, and 1605. Each Lionel Tollemache is represented by a kneeling figure set into a niche, with the eldest Lionel at the top and the three younger ones in a row beneath.Taken as a whole, the Tollemache memorials are a stunning set of monuments spanning over 300 years, beginning in the early 17th century. They are reason enough to visit Helmingham all by themselves. 

You will also be struck by the biblical quotations that line the walls and fill every available space. They are the work of one of the major figures of 19th century evangelicalism, John Charles Ryle, first Bishop of Liverpool. He was Vicar here early in his career, before taking his muscular Christianity onto Stradbroke (where his enthusiasm for graffiti was toned down a bit) I have never come across a church with so many `slogans` on the wall! 

15th century font, decorated with figures of lions standing on human heads. 

Looking toward the altar you get some appreciation of the scale of the monuments.

To the left and right front of the entry to the Hall, are lodges - also listed Grade II 

A huge amount of history lies in the grounds of this estate and makes for some fascinating reading. The park is a lovely walk, and worth doing just to see the deer, and of course the gardens we have yet to see - perhaps 2018? 

 Index of posts

Redgrave, South Lopham & Banham

Redgrave & Lopham Fen is an internationally important lowland valley fen with a unique landscape of spring-fed sedge beds, rush and grass meadows, wet and dry heath, woodland and pools.

Home to insect-eating plants and Britain's biggest spider, the fen raft spider, this dramatic fenland landscape is one of the most important wetlands in Europe and the source of the River Waveney.

The fen is an exceptional place for wildlife and a testament to the vision of those who battled to save it. It`s a wild watery landscape of sedge, rush, heath and hundreds of pools created over many centuries by local people as they eked out a living, digging peat for fuel and cutting reed and sedge for thatching.

Talking of large spiders, here is an image I captured in 2010 on a visit. Not the best quality, but it does show the creature in its habitat.

The Raft Spider is a large, chunky spider that lives around the edge of ponds and swamps. Adults sit at the edge of the water, or on floating vegetation, with their front legs resting on the water's surface in order to feel for the vibrations of potential prey. Using the surface tension of the water, they chase out onto the water to catch their prey, which will even include tadpoles or small fish.

Raft Spiders will also swim underwater, often diving beneath the surface when threatened.

These two images are of the Four Spot Chaser dragonfly which was just trying to warm himself up at the start of the day.

This was I believe, a Variable Damselfly - Coenagrion pulchellum

and this a female Blue-tailed Damselfly - Ischnura elegans

....and then to an unfortunate one captured, and being eaten by a spider!

And so we made our way to South Lopham where the village sign shows how proud they are of their resident raft Spider.

South Lopham church (St Andrews) has the finest Norman tower in Norfolk and one of the best anywhere. It rises 70ft and is somewhat austere, even forbidding - it would not take a big jump of the imagination to see it in a Norman castle.

The original church was Saxon, dating from between AD 1000 and 1066. The Norman work was commissioned by the fearsome William Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. He was to drown in 1120 in the “White Ship” that was taking another William - the son and only legitimate heir of Henry I - from Barfleur in Normandy to England. The Bigods had fought alongside the Conqueror and most of Norfolk and Suffolk was their reward! We might speculate that the no-nonsense austerity of the tower owed something to the no-nonsense mindset of the Bigods!

The church tower might well have been designed to be the centre of a cruciform church, but the transepts never materialised.

There are a quantity of pew ends which are worth a look including this one, the Elephant and Castle emblem. It is a fairly common feature of mediaeval iconography. The carver of this piece obviously had little idea of the creature’s anatomy - hence the beak-like trunk and pathetic legs!

The font is from the fourteenth century and is of octagonal design. It`s stem and bowl carved with traceried patterns (each one different from the others) and topped with a seventeenth century cover.

This mighty parish chest, fashioned out of a single piece of oak! Some believe that it could well date from 1100, contemporary with the tower. In it parish documents and valuables would be stored. At a later date it was secured by three padlocks (the hasp of the middle one remains) for which the rector and two churchwardens each had a key, so all three had to be present for it to be opened.

So onto Banham to take in St Mary`s church with it`s 125ft lead covered spire, atop the tower. Most of the church is flint construction of fourteenth century, flint being available in large quantities in Norfolk.

Doors on old buildings have such a story to tell with their gnarled and weather beaten appearance. This one is from St Mary`s, but is no longer subject to the weather as the Friends of Banham Church had a modern glass entrance door constructed in 2007.

The fourteenth century Parish Chest.

Two images of the buildings which were originally the late sixteenth century Guildhall. Now known as Guildhall Cottages (not too original!)

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