ST. GENEVIEVE
EUSTON
links
within our site
THE CHURCH OF ST GENEVIEVE
EUSTON
SUFFOLK
Euston is one of the mere handful
of churches in provincial England rebuilt or extensively remodelled in
the 1670s; in Suffolk it is unique. We know little of the church
which was here during the Middle Ages, but when Lord Arlington acquired
the manor in the 1660s he found it in a seriously dilapidated condition.
His restoration was superimposed on the old structure; as Pevsner explains,
‘The church is, in its outer walls and tower, still medieval. The
rest was rebuilt in 1676.’ The final result was so different, however,
that it is often looked upon as a completely new building.
The church has a west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles. A small transept has been fitted into the east end of each aisle, and there is a later vestry in matching style in the angle between the south transept and the chancel. The simple exterior has rendered walls, lined to simulate stone. The fine double entrance doors, up a flight of semi-circular steps, lead through to the base of the tower. They are matched by similar entries into the north and south aisles, but these are false, blocked by panelling or plaster inside, and may only reproduce the north and south doorways of the medieval church. The two-light windows in the body of the church are most unusual, deriving in style from some Italian palaces of the 15th and 16th centuries. No other English church of this period has any quite like them, and they form an interesting contract to the simpler windows of the east end and tower.
In 1676 the tower of the medieval church was heightened and encased in brick. Thick older walls of rubble flint can be seen inside. The pierced parapet set on top is in an inspired stylistic blend linking the two phases of the structure. Euston must be the first instance in Suffolk of the deliberate raising of a tower to make it a viewpoint from the nearby great house, an idea later copied at Livermere and Redgrave.
A bell-frame carrying five bells was fitted into the new top stage of the tower, but by the 1970s it had become too unsafe to ring the bells and it was replaced by a new frame set a stage below. Much of the work involved was done by Mr and Mrs Henry Ivings, resident in Euston for many years. They also donated a new treble bell to make a ring of six, which are rung regularly for services.
By contrast with the restrained exterior, the interior is impressive and very little altered, with lavish plasterwork and fittings. A framed photograph at the back, taken in 1975, shows the nave and chancel as they were prior to the very limited restoration of the 1880s. The fine box pews in the nave, the panelling around the walls and across the east end, the low ornate screen across the chancel arch and, above all, the splendid carved pulpit, are all of 1676. Unfortunately, the pulpit has been moved from its original position part-way down the south side of the nave and is now without its fine sounding-board. Rows of wooden hat-pegs along the panelling, shown in the photograph, were sawn off. The font, and the benches in the aisles, transepts and chancel, are all of the 1880s.
Framed at the back of the nave is a copy of the Faculty granted to Lord Arlington by the Bishop of Norwich for the work on the old church, which it describes as ‘crazy’ (cracked). The Bishop had issued another Faculty as early as 1671 for the rebuilding of the ruinous south aisle, and this seems to be the only part that was completely rebuilt. Low down on its outer wall is an inscribed foundation stone, laid by the Duchess of Grafton in 1676. The lettering is crude and not in keeping with the high quality of the rest of the work. The Duchess was Lord Arlington’s only child, Isabella, then only 8, although already betrothed to Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, a son of Charles II, in 1672; perhaps the inscription was cut by a mason on the site to please the little girl. Lord Arlington clearly intended this new aisle to be a setting for his fine monument: the plasterwork on the ceiling there is particularly exuberant and quite different in style from the rest of the interior.
A lively version of Lord Arlington’s arms quartering those of his wife is set above the door into the church from the tower. Above the inner side of the door are the Royal arms with the baton sinister (the 1st Duke of Grafton being illegitimate) quartering the Arlington arms. Lord Arlington’s gilded monogram appears at some of the intersections in the vaulting of the nave and chancel ceilings (H B – Henry Bennet).
Ten Dukes of Grafton are buried in the vaults; the inscribed brasses from their coffins, and those of other members of the FitzRoy family, have been set along the transept walls, and various other FitzRoy memorials are on the walls of the nave and chancel. In the chancel floor are several 15th century brasses from the medieval church.
We do not know who the architect of the reconstructed church was, and it may be that we owe the overall concept to Lord Arlington himself. Nor do we know who the master carver was, although there was much talent to draw on at that time. Happily, whoever was responsible, the final effect is one of opulent harmony.
The church has a west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles. A small transept has been fitted into the east end of each aisle, and there is a later vestry in matching style in the angle between the south transept and the chancel. The simple exterior has rendered walls, lined to simulate stone. The fine double entrance doors, up a flight of semi-circular steps, lead through to the base of the tower. They are matched by similar entries into the north and south aisles, but these are false, blocked by panelling or plaster inside, and may only reproduce the north and south doorways of the medieval church. The two-light windows in the body of the church are most unusual, deriving in style from some Italian palaces of the 15th and 16th centuries. No other English church of this period has any quite like them, and they form an interesting contract to the simpler windows of the east end and tower.
In 1676 the tower of the medieval church was heightened and encased in brick. Thick older walls of rubble flint can be seen inside. The pierced parapet set on top is in an inspired stylistic blend linking the two phases of the structure. Euston must be the first instance in Suffolk of the deliberate raising of a tower to make it a viewpoint from the nearby great house, an idea later copied at Livermere and Redgrave.
A bell-frame carrying five bells was fitted into the new top stage of the tower, but by the 1970s it had become too unsafe to ring the bells and it was replaced by a new frame set a stage below. Much of the work involved was done by Mr and Mrs Henry Ivings, resident in Euston for many years. They also donated a new treble bell to make a ring of six, which are rung regularly for services.
By contrast with the restrained exterior, the interior is impressive and very little altered, with lavish plasterwork and fittings. A framed photograph at the back, taken in 1975, shows the nave and chancel as they were prior to the very limited restoration of the 1880s. The fine box pews in the nave, the panelling around the walls and across the east end, the low ornate screen across the chancel arch and, above all, the splendid carved pulpit, are all of 1676. Unfortunately, the pulpit has been moved from its original position part-way down the south side of the nave and is now without its fine sounding-board. Rows of wooden hat-pegs along the panelling, shown in the photograph, were sawn off. The font, and the benches in the aisles, transepts and chancel, are all of the 1880s.
Framed at the back of the nave is a copy of the Faculty granted to Lord Arlington by the Bishop of Norwich for the work on the old church, which it describes as ‘crazy’ (cracked). The Bishop had issued another Faculty as early as 1671 for the rebuilding of the ruinous south aisle, and this seems to be the only part that was completely rebuilt. Low down on its outer wall is an inscribed foundation stone, laid by the Duchess of Grafton in 1676. The lettering is crude and not in keeping with the high quality of the rest of the work. The Duchess was Lord Arlington’s only child, Isabella, then only 8, although already betrothed to Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, a son of Charles II, in 1672; perhaps the inscription was cut by a mason on the site to please the little girl. Lord Arlington clearly intended this new aisle to be a setting for his fine monument: the plasterwork on the ceiling there is particularly exuberant and quite different in style from the rest of the interior.
A lively version of Lord Arlington’s arms quartering those of his wife is set above the door into the church from the tower. Above the inner side of the door are the Royal arms with the baton sinister (the 1st Duke of Grafton being illegitimate) quartering the Arlington arms. Lord Arlington’s gilded monogram appears at some of the intersections in the vaulting of the nave and chancel ceilings (H B – Henry Bennet).
Ten Dukes of Grafton are buried in the vaults; the inscribed brasses from their coffins, and those of other members of the FitzRoy family, have been set along the transept walls, and various other FitzRoy memorials are on the walls of the nave and chancel. In the chancel floor are several 15th century brasses from the medieval church.
We do not know who the architect of the reconstructed church was, and it may be that we owe the overall concept to Lord Arlington himself. Nor do we know who the master carver was, although there was much talent to draw on at that time. Happily, whoever was responsible, the final effect is one of opulent harmony.
(Sylvia Colman, 1990)
| For corrections
and additions to this web site |
| email to
me |
| a.upson1@btinternet.com |
interest