St Mary Huntingfield
This church has had many alterations to it over the centuries and we can see a range of architectural styles here, and hides an incredible painted roof - something rarely seen in East Anglia.
St Mary Huntingfield might seem like a fairly unassuming medieval church but when we look closer we can actually find some amazing features that make this church stand out from others in both counties. There is a real feeling of just a mixture of renovations and modifications made over the centuries. The whole south arcade and south side of the church is typical of the earlier perpendicular gothic architecture in East Anglia for somewhere before the 14th century. Walking towards the church we can see the typical style for the region with walls made of loose rubble and flanked by ‘long and short’ cut stone quoins making the corners of the south aisle and knapped flushwork flint used for decoration on the parapet above the aisle. Our attention is drawn to the porch where we see flushwork panelling but also pinnacles, in which one is in the form of a seated figure and on the other side of the porch is a lion holding a shield. The Tudor red brick window is in fairly stark contrast with the pinnacles and flint buttresses and early medieval tower, but shows immediately how this church has been altered to fit different styles, and also when wealth came to the village to renovate the church.
Still looking inside we can find an octagonal font with an appropriately magnificent painted wooden font cover, where the gothic canopy towers upwards in the middle of the aisle. The pews also differ slightly from other typical examples in Norfolk and Suffolk, as we can find carved figures instead of poppy heads in some cases, which adds further detail to this decorated church. Most of the windows are in the typical perpendicular gothic style and although not very large the eastern window above the altar is made in reticulated tracery - typical of the early 14th century, although the beautiful stained glass is possibly from the late 19th century or later. Behind the Romanesque arcade we can find a 15th-century painting of Christ and angels, although the origin is not known it is still interesting to observe since few East Anglian churches of this period have paintings like this.
I highly recommend a visit to this church, as the magnificently decorated inside is vastly different from almost anything else in the area. The different features compliment each other very well and give a colourful vibrancy to a largely unassuming church from the outside. Although we can speculate that some of the decorations may have been inspired by nearby architecture such as Heveningham Hall, and is close to Halesworth – what would have been a growing and probably charming 18th century market town.
The inside of the church becomes very interesting as we can see the north arcade with Romanesque arches instead of pointed gothic ones, which indicates the original Norman wall. However these arches in the current condition are from the 18th century and so this is just a nod to earlier architectural styles, possible with revivalist inspiration as many buildings of this time were in the neo-Romanesque style (including nearby Heveningham hall) and were associated with wealth and personal sophistication. More spectacular is the roof which is painted with vibrant colours and decorated carved wooden angels on the beams, which gives a completely unique look to the church as not many have painted rooves in the area. These are a range of incredible ornamental patterns and depictions of saints and angels. This was painted in the middle of 19th century, so although not an original medieval feature we can tell that the people of the parish had some kind of interest with the period and could have also been encouraged by revivalist art movements at the time.
