| Women's Institute |
| 30 Sep 06 - An Evening out with the WI | |
| The Redlingfield and Occold WI annual outing in June was a great success and included a conducted tour of Mendlesham Church and Armoury by the vicar of Mendlesham, the Reverend Gray, followed by drinks and buffet supper provided by one of the Mendlesham residents at his home. The vicar first showed us the outside of the church pointing out interesting architectural features including the gargoyles and the fine flint work. Also, the highly ornate two-storey north porch with its splendid wodewose – a hairy, naked wild man of the woods wielding a club, one of the commonest carvings to be seen in medieval Suffolk churches. We were then taken to Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which is situated above the porch of the church and accessed by a narrow winding staircase. It may seem odd to the modern mind to have a weapons museum in a church but it was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to 1470, however the majority are from the 16th century and include a rare Elizabethan longbow. More interesting perhaps is the Civil War equipment, some of which was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. | The inside of the church has five active altars, the largest number in a single church in Suffolk. You find yourself standing in a large space, much of the west end of the church devoted to the font, the organ, and some fascinating medieval benches, and also some slightly later benches, probably early 17th century, which came from Rishangles church when it was closed. After visiting the church we were taken to the home of Mr Jim Baker who provided us with food and copious drinks in true WI style. After the meal, Mr & Mrs Colchester, a local farming family, gave a fascinating account of the history of the village and the discovery of medieval tools and artefacts on his land and the area immediately surrounding Mendlesham village. These included a group of several Neolithic axe heads, indicating presence of a Stone age settlement in the area. Bronze Age axes, Roman and Medieval pottery and various other artefacts and memorabilia up to and including WWII Chris Hewitson |
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This page was last updated on 29 March 2007 at 08:42