Blythburgh
This is an excellent example of late gothic architecture in the perpendicular style from the 15th Century and is a large church dominating the skyline.
This magnificent church is a perfect icon of the late medieval and late gothic architecture that honours the wealthier era of East Anglia’s history. The growth in wealth through the 15th and into the 16th century saw East Anglia become much richer and more powerful than other significant parts of the country, and as a result churches of this period in Suffolk and Norfolk had the wealth to build something truly impressive. This can also be seen as a deliberate break with the past: with a notable difference between the late medieval perpendicular architecture style and the early Norman period that dominates East Anglia’s smaller settlements.
Almost all of the church dates from the mid-15th century, with evidence suggesting that the north transept chapel being built in 1452. Interestingly the 83ft high tower appears to be slightly older and used to be taller when before 1577 there was a spire, which was unusual for the perpendicular style of the area- possibly suggesting an attempt to really show the self-importance of the area.
The church itself is in the late gothic perpendicular style creating a large and tall nave with pointed gothic arcades holding single mouldings in the arches themselves. The columns have square piers and four semi circular ‘demi-columns’, these create a lofty cavernous feel to the nave. The wooden roof stretching through the nave and chancel is also quite remarkable with the low-pitch roof being held by tie-beams, creating a sort of rectangular shape. But these are decorated with large wooden angels each site of the beams and coats of arms on small shields at the bottom of each vertical beam. These are also decorated with faded paint which would have created spectacularly colourful rafters in its day.
Other interesting features for visitors includes the tomb of Sir John Hopton (1489) to the north of the chancel, which is decorated a four-ribbed canopy made of marble and impressive tracery; you can also see the place where two brass engravings were. On both the north and south transepts are priest doors behind flying buttresses, the addition of which is quite rare for a settlement of this nature – even if the rest are just simple stepped buttresses.
While this church is built in the later gothic style and era of English architecture and exhibits some similarities with churches of its time, such as stone-edged buttresses, intricate shapes in the place of crenulations, and stone figures as pinnacles on top of these buttresses, it looks different to other large churches of this era. What makes Blythburgh different is the use of knapped flint covering the outsides of the nave and chancel instead of stone blocks used in other churches built at the time of a similar size in areas of the country where there are better local building materials. The flint gives it an earlier feel but can be seen as for a decorative use in order to show wealth and majesty of the people involved. This is seen particularly in the two-story porch, where a checkered pattern of flint and stone is found at the bottom – in which a priest’s room still exists and is worth looking in.
This is definitely a charming church and one I find particularly interesting as it stands out against the regional landscape of the marshes and river Blyth - giving it the deserving nickname the ‘cathedral of the marshes’. It is also impressive in its size and remains a remarkable preserved example of 15th century late medieval churches, of which few remain.