St Peter and St Paul's Church, Clare

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Clare
St Peter and St Paul's Church, Clare
52°4′43.88″N 0°34′51.44″E / 52.0788556°N 0.5809556°ECoordinates: 52°4′43.88″N 0°34′51.44″E / 52.0788556°N 0.5809556°E
Location	Clare, Suffolk
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
History
Dedication	St Peter and St Paul
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed
Administration
Parish	Clare
Deanery	Sudbury
Archdeaconry	Suffolk
Diocese	Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Clare is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England^[1] in Clare, Suffolk.

History

This parish church is one of the largest and most beautiful in East Anglia: "A large and handsome church...within a spacious churchyard."^[2] Simon Jenkins includes it in his 'England's Thousand Best Churches'.^[3] It is principally of the 14th and early 15th century, with 13th century work in the west tower, in the perpendicular style. The list of past priests goes back to 1307.^[4] "The tower is unfortunately a little short for the church.....all the windows of the aisles and clerestory are slender and closely set, the effect has the same erectness as Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford and St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham. The remodelling of the interior made it very airy."^[5] 'Seen from any angle it floats on the skyline like a great ship, with a small tower for a fo'c'stle and two turrets for masts.....The interior is ablaze with light.'^[6]

the sun - stained glass in Clare Parish Church (Contributor: Evelyn Simak)

The church possesses a late C15 brass lectern in the form of an eagle with three dogs as feet rather than lions; this may have served as a collection-box, money posted at the beak exiting at the tail. There are two fine private pews, one with the emblems of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, the other an ostentatious Stuart gallery pew with scroll-sided poppyheads "so like those at Little Thurlow that they may have been carved by the same man".^[7] In the chancel there are rare Jacobean carved choir stalls. The motto above the sundial over the south porch reads: 'Go about your business', not a mercantile admonition but a peremptory version of St Paul's advice: "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies".^[8] Around the doorway may be seen carved ten faces of the Green Man, a somewhat pagan image to be seen on a church, but widely used across Christian Europe.

The greatest disaster to befall the church was the visit of William Dowsing in 1643. The Puritan Parliament decreed the demolition of altars, removal of candlesticks, and defacement of pictures and images. 'Basher' Dowsing, a fanatical anti-Romanist, was appointed as 'Parliamentary Visitor for the East Anglian counties for demolishing the superstitious pictures and ornaments of churches'. 'Cromwell's iconoclast'^[9] kept a journal of his visits. On 6 January 1644, he visited six churches, including Haverhill. As for Clare, he wrote: "We brake down 1000 pictures superstitious: I brake down 200; 3 of God the Father, and 3 of Christ, and of the Holy Lamb, and 3 of the Holy Ghost like a Dove with Wings; and the Twelve Apostles were carved in wood, on top of the Roof, which we gave order to take down; and 20 Cherubim to be taken down; and the Sun and the Moon in the East window, by the King's Arms to be taken down". Bullet holes in the roof suggest one inaccurate method; the rest being done with arrows, stones, poles and whitewash. The Sun and Moon still survive.^[10]

Parish status

The Parish of Clare is part of the Stour Valley Team Ministry, along with the Parishes of:

• St Mary the Virgin's Church, Cavendish
• St Mary's Church, Poslingford
• St John the Baptist's Church, Stoke by Clare
• St Leonard's Church, Wixoe

Organ

The organ

In the eighteenth century an organ stood at the west end of the church, but was moved to the current position in 1864. A new organ was obtained in 1888, originally built in 1847 by Gray and Davison for St John the Evangelist's Church, Regent's Park, London.

In 1977 a replacement was acquired from St Peter’s Church, Ipswich as a memorial to Clare Wayman (1892-1976). A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.^[11]

Bells

The church has an excellent ring of eight bells, noted as the heaviest peal in Suffolk.

The 7th bell is unusually inscribed Trintas Sancta Campanum Istam Conserva (Holy Trinity conserve this bell) and was probably cast in the early C15.^[12] The sixth bell dates from 1579, and is by John Dyer.

In 1781 the ring was increased by from six to eight when William Mears cast two additional bells. The third and fifth are by the Gray family of Colchester. The tenor of 28 cwt was recast in 1893 by Charles Newman of Norwich, and the fourth was recast in London by William Mears.

The Gotch

The Gotch

An unusual item in the church is The Gotch, a beer jug presented to the bell ringers in 1729 by the Vicar, Matthew Bell. It is nearly 50 cm high and holds 32 pints. It has a pun in its inscription campana sonant canore (the bells ring in harmony). The bell and crown embossed on it are a reference to the Crown Inn which was owned by the family of the Vicar.

Incumbents

John De Stebbing 1307 Richard de Scordich 1329 Gilbert de Karliolo 1343 John de Houghton 1344 John Joye 1348 Nicholas de Lydgate 1350 Thomas Porter 1361 Richard Clerk 1388 William Hall 1390 Walter Cove 1394 William Reed 1398 Thomas Custen 1404 Richard Pumpy alias Tylney 1432 Thomas asty 1462 John Motton John Knight 1467 William Wellys MA 1468 Robert Colingham John Wyllys 1476 Reginald Annyson 1477 Thomas Sutton DR 1482 John Halyman 1502

Richard Turner MA 1505 John Reiston 1516 John Metton Robert Parker 1562 Thomas Rogers 1565 Nicholas Whitfilde 1566 Francis Watsonne Radulph Leyver BA 1569 Robert Ballard BA 1582 James Resould 1591 Wlliam Colt MA 1598 Daniel Booth MA 1617 Isaac Joyner MA 1617 Robert Wilmot MA 1623 William Good MA 1627 Roger Cook MA 1645 William Prime John Ockley MA 1663 John Kenyon 1690 Oliver Cobb MA 1703 Matthew Bell BA 1727 John Bell BA 1750

William Lens 1784 Abraham Wallett 1785 William Brook Jones BA 1791 William Sadler MA 1804 Henry Blunt BA 1819 George Wightman DD 1833 John C. Coleman 1854 Thomas Parkinson 1869 Frederick S.P. Seale BA 1871 Joseph W. Collins 1876 Robert Sorsbie MA 1882 James R.M. Vatcher MA 1896 Francis S. Swithinbank BA. 1931 Richard L Hordern MA 1962 John D. Beloe MA 1969 Ralph Thicknesse MA 1974 Maurice G. Woodward MA 1977 David J. Wardrop ALCD 1986 W. John A Rankin MA 1993 Stuart Mitchell 2011

References

1. The Buildings of England: Suffolk: Nikolaus Pevsner.
2. D P Mortlock, The Guide to Suffolk Churches, Lutterworth Press 2009, ISBN 978-0-7188-3076-2 p114
3. Simon Jenkins, English's Thousand Best Churches, Penguin 2009, ISBN 978-0-14-103930-5
4. Thornton op. cit. p139
5. Pevsner op. cit. p166-167
6. Simon Jenkins, op cit p743
7. Mortlock op. cit. p 115
8. Bible, King James version, 2 Thessalonians 3.11
9. Simon Jenkins op. cit. p734
10. Hatton op. cit. IV p 86-88
11. http://npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N13307
12. Mortlock op. cit. p115