St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham |
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St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham
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| 52°6′22.83″N 0°47′29″E / 52.1063417°N 0.79139°E | |
| Location | Lavenham |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| History | |
| Dedication | St Peter and St Paul |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade I listed |
| Architect(s) | John Wastell |
| Style | Late Perpendicular |
| Completed | 1525 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 156 feet (48 m) |
| Nave width | 70 feet (21 m) |
| Height | 138 feet (42 m) |
| Bells | 8 |
| Tenor bell weight | 21 long cwt 0 qr 7 lb (2,359 lb or 1,070 kg) |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Lavenham with Preston |
| Deanery | Lavenham |
| Archdeaconry | Sudbury |
| Diocese | Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich |
| Province | Canterbury |
St Peter and St Paul's Church in Lavenham, Suffolk, is a very old and important church in England. It is known as a "wool church" because it was built with money from the successful wool trade. Many people think it is one of the best examples of Late Perpendicular Gothic style in the country. It is also a Grade I listed building, which means it is a very special historical site.
Contents
History of the Church
A church has stood on this spot, on a hill west of Lavenham, since Anglo-Saxon times. The first church was probably made of wood. It was rebuilt with stone in the 1300s. The oldest part of the church you see today is the chancel, built around 1340. Rich people, like Thomas Spring II, helped pay for its decoration.
Building a Grand New Church
After the Black Death in the 1300s, Lavenham became very wealthy because of its wool trade. The town's rich citizens wanted a church that showed off their new wealth. So, they kept adding to and changing the 14th-century church. The eastern vestry, built in 1440, is another old part that remains.
After King Henry VII won a big battle in 1485, a local leader named the Earl of Oxford suggested rebuilding the church. He wanted it to celebrate the new king and show off the latest building style. However, it's likely that plans to rebuild were already happening because Lavenham was so rich.
The main rebuilding work happened between 1485 and 1525. The architect who designed it is thought to be John Wastell. He also built the Church of St Mary the Great in Cambridge, which looks very similar. This church is a great example of the Late Perpendicular style. It was also one of the last big churches finished before the English Reformation, a major change in England's religious history.
Who Paid for It?
The church cost a huge amount of money to build. Local merchant families, who were some of the richest in England, paid for it. These families also continued to pay for the church's upkeep for hundreds of years.
The two main people who gave money were the 13th Earl of Oxford and a cloth merchant named Thomas Spring of Lavenham. Because of this, you can see their family symbols all over the church. The Spring family's symbol and Thomas Spring's merchant mark appear over thirty times on the outside! The star symbol of the de Vere family (the Earl of Oxford's family) goes around the top of the tower.
There are also special areas inside the church. The Spring Chapel, built around 1525, is south of the chancel. The Branch Chapel, from about 1500, is north of the chancel. The remains of Thomas Spring are buried in the church.
Later Repairs
The church was repaired a lot between 1861 and 1867 by Francis Penrose. Later, in the 1900s, a diplomat named Sir Cecil Spring Rice gave a lot of money to fix the tower.
Today, St Peter and St Paul's Church is one of the most visited churches in East Anglia. A famous writer, Simon Jenkins, gave it four stars in his book England's Thousand Best Churches. He said that many people like it even more than other famous churches because it feels calm and peaceful. He also praised its unique tower and impressive inside.
Inside the Church: Furnishings
The church has many interesting old items inside.
Misericords and Screens
- Misericords: These are small wooden seats from the 1400s that people could lean on during long church services. They have funny carvings underneath them. You can see creatures that are half-woman, half-beast playing music, or a half-man, half-beast playing a musical instrument made from bellows. There's also a pelican with its babies and a man holding a pig.
- Rood Screen: There's a painted screen from around 1330–1340.
- Font: The church has an eight-sided font (a basin for baptisms) from the 1300s, which is quite worn from age.
- Parclose Screens: These are carved wooden screens that separate different chapels from the main part of the church. They are found in front of both the Branch and Spring chapels. One screen protects the tomb of John Ponder, who died in 1520.
Other Features
There are also many funeral monuments from the 1400s to the 1600s. One small brass memorial shows a baby wrapped in blankets. The carved figures of St Peter and St Paul above the porch were made by Eric Winters and put in place in 1965. The church's iron gates and door handles were made by a local blacksmith named Edgar Lingley in 1865.
The Tower and Bells
Work on the church tower began in 1486 and finished in 1495. However, because Thomas Spring left a lot of money in his will, more work was done in the early 1500s. This is why the tower is so unusually large and grand today. It is built in four sections, using knapped flint (a type of stone) and has rare buttresses (supports) that wrap around it.
The Bells
The tower has eight bells. The largest bell, called the tenor, weighs over 21 hundredweight (a very heavy weight!). It was made by Miles Graye in 1625. People say this bell has "the finest tone" in England, and possibly even the world! This special bell is rung whenever a member of the royal family dies.
The Clock
The church clock was made by Thomas Watts in 1775. It doesn't have a clock face on the outside. An hour strike and quarter chimes were added to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The tower stands 138 feet (42 metres) tall.
Notable Clergy
One important person who served as Rector (the main priest) of St Peter and St Paul's Church was William Gurnall. He was Rector from 1644 until he died in 1679. He is famous for his book The Christian in Complete Armour.
