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Blythburgh
Covehithe with Benacre Frostenden Henstead with Hulver Reydon South Cove Sotherton Southwold Uggeshall Walberswick Wangford Wrentham |
The situation of St Andrew is quite delightful, at the end of a narrow lane off the Halesworth to Beccles road. There isn't a village; Sotherton is too small to be marked on anything but a decent Ordnance Survey map. The only other building in sight is the old farmhouse, from where you collect the key. The farmhouse's position in relation to St Andrew gives it a proprietal air, and there is a sense in which the church is actually a part of the farmyard complex, as at Letheringham.
The church was completely rebuilt by the Victorians. But they reused the old materials, and at any rate this is a church worth visiting. It is a fine example of good 19th century rural work, and the stained glass is some of the best. Nearby Uggeshall has other good examples, so someone around here knew what they were doing. The architect was Henry Ringham, and the glass is probably the work of Edward Baillie and Charles Hudson. Altogether, it has aged extremely well. Quiet and unassuming, without a tower or a prominent position, St Andrew does, however, have one great treasure. Two surviving panels of the roodscreen are attached to the vestry door. Although they have clearly ben overpainted, they retain their 15th century gessowork (plaster of paris attached to wood or stone, and then painted). More remarkably, St John is accompanied by his symbol of an eagle. This is the only time this symbol is known to survive on a roodscreen panel in East Anglia. Photo © 2000 - Lynne Payne Words www.suffolkchurches.co.uk |