Medieval History
I'm becoming quite familiar with these two rather lovely fifteenth century angels. They are attached to the wall in the Trinity chapel in Louth parish church, where my colleagues and I say the morning office. They, along with a single smaller version in the V and A, are all that remain of the nave roof of this glorious church, constructed in the second half of the fifteenth century. The medieval roof was dismantled in the 1820s and replaced by a roof constructed of Baltic pine to the design of E J Willson. As a nod towards the original design, E J Willson incorporated painted plaster angels into his design, but they are not a patch on the medieval originals, which would have formed the hammerbeams of the old roof. As you can see from the photos the angels are feathered and hold instruments of Christ's Passion. One has the crown of thorns, the second the pillar from the scourging. As is typical of roof carvings of the period they are rather stiffly and boldly carved and must have been impressive from the ground.
The interior of St James, Louth with its Baltic Pine roof.
Down the road is the redunant church of St Michael at Burwell. The ceiling of the tower incorporates reused timber including these two odd looiking figures, again of the fifteenth century Like the angels in Louth, they probably formed hammerbeams from another lost roof. As St Michael's is a rather modest building , I do wonder if these figures here were also salvaged from the lost roofs in St James' Louth.
- Urgent Call For Repairs To Medieval Churches In Honing And Crostwight
An unusual series of medieval paintings depicting the seven deadly sins could be lost from the walls of All Saints Church at Crostwight near North Walsham unless £150,000 can be found to re thatch the leaky roof, re-render the walls and repair the exterior...
- Medieval Demons Found At Norfolk Church
A set of grotesque and unique medieval carvings has been rediscovered at a church in the Fens after being forgotten for hundreds of years. The discovery of 12 demons in the roof of the nave at St Clement?s Church, Outwell, has sparked calls for the relics...
- Apologies For My Absence
St Michael and All Angels, Louth, Lincolnshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum.When I last posted on this blog on 19 March I said that I would be absent from the blog for a few weeks. Those few weeks have very quickly turned into nearly three months....
- Advent Blue
This is a glorious little piece of late medieval English embroidery in the V and A. It formed part of an altar frontal, of unknown provenance, given by Henry Smyth and his wife and their son Thomas Smythe and his wife. It dates from the final quarter...
- Spandrel Paintings In Lincolnshire
Friskney, Lincolnshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum. Lincolnshire is not known for its medieval panel paintings, but recently I came across these two naive censing angels at Friskney in the Lincolnshire marsh. They are painted on the eastern spandrels...
Medieval History
Lost roofs
I'm becoming quite familiar with these two rather lovely fifteenth century angels. They are attached to the wall in the Trinity chapel in Louth parish church, where my colleagues and I say the morning office. They, along with a single smaller version in the V and A, are all that remain of the nave roof of this glorious church, constructed in the second half of the fifteenth century. The medieval roof was dismantled in the 1820s and replaced by a roof constructed of Baltic pine to the design of E J Willson. As a nod towards the original design, E J Willson incorporated painted plaster angels into his design, but they are not a patch on the medieval originals, which would have formed the hammerbeams of the old roof. As you can see from the photos the angels are feathered and hold instruments of Christ's Passion. One has the crown of thorns, the second the pillar from the scourging. As is typical of roof carvings of the period they are rather stiffly and boldly carved and must have been impressive from the ground.
The interior of St James, Louth with its Baltic Pine roof.
Down the road is the redunant church of St Michael at Burwell. The ceiling of the tower incorporates reused timber including these two odd looiking figures, again of the fifteenth century Like the angels in Louth, they probably formed hammerbeams from another lost roof. As St Michael's is a rather modest building , I do wonder if these figures here were also salvaged from the lost roofs in St James' Louth.
- Urgent Call For Repairs To Medieval Churches In Honing And Crostwight
An unusual series of medieval paintings depicting the seven deadly sins could be lost from the walls of All Saints Church at Crostwight near North Walsham unless £150,000 can be found to re thatch the leaky roof, re-render the walls and repair the exterior...
- Medieval Demons Found At Norfolk Church
A set of grotesque and unique medieval carvings has been rediscovered at a church in the Fens after being forgotten for hundreds of years. The discovery of 12 demons in the roof of the nave at St Clement?s Church, Outwell, has sparked calls for the relics...
- Apologies For My Absence
St Michael and All Angels, Louth, Lincolnshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum.When I last posted on this blog on 19 March I said that I would be absent from the blog for a few weeks. Those few weeks have very quickly turned into nearly three months....
- Advent Blue
This is a glorious little piece of late medieval English embroidery in the V and A. It formed part of an altar frontal, of unknown provenance, given by Henry Smyth and his wife and their son Thomas Smythe and his wife. It dates from the final quarter...
- Spandrel Paintings In Lincolnshire
Friskney, Lincolnshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum. Lincolnshire is not known for its medieval panel paintings, but recently I came across these two naive censing angels at Friskney in the Lincolnshire marsh. They are painted on the eastern spandrels...