The Parish of St Matthew, Triangle and All Saints, Ipswich
CONTACT DETAILS
Rector
Ordained local minister
Revd Ruth Best
Minister in charge of Triangle Church
Parish Administrator
Parish Office
(01473) 251630
Triangle Church Office
(01473) 219407
The Font The font is fourteenth century and is regarded by many experts as the finest treasure our church possesses. It stands now on its fourth site since it was introduced into the church (about 1350 AD, according to one expert). First it stood at the end of the South Aisle opposite the old entrance to the church. This was because the Baptismal Service was taken in two parts; the first half being held outside the church door. Next it was placed in a central position at the end of the nave for similar reasons. Thirdly it was transferred to the Baptistery (now The St Francis Chapel) and finally it was placed in its present position when the St Francis Chapel was constructed in 1950. The bowl is octagonal and has two uninteresting foliage panels. The other six, however, depict the Six Joys of Mary: the Annunciation; the Adoration of the Magi; the Assumption of Mary; the Coronation; the Glorification; and the Baptism of Our Lord. At each angle there is a human figure, male and female alternately. Beneath the bowl are angles at each corner, whilst against the shaft stand the symbols of the four evangelists.
It is puzzling to know how this rich font with its Marian theme escaped the destructive
visitation of William Dowsing in 1643. He had orders to destroy all 'superstitious
images', and according to his diary he did destroy thirty six such images. He missed
the font and one can only assume that precautions were taken to deceive -
The Jacobean Monuments There are two Jacobean monuments in the chancel which are
other treasures of the church fabric. They are now rather faded and the inscriptions
have been difficult to read for over a hundred years, but they depict two seventeenth-
The Painted Screen of Saints and Donors These panels are a delight and a puzzle. Probably they belonged to the medieval roodscreen which was removed illegally at the time of the Reformation. Years later these remnants were found being used as the doors of a vestry cupboard. Canon Fletcher put them on display in the church itself and now they form part of the 1935 Memorial Screen.
The panels represent two groups, nine men and seven women, and the other four are
in bishops' robes. One of them may be carrying a windlass which was the emblem of
St Erasmus. It is thought possible, therefore, that the donors were members of the
Guild of St Erasmus which is known to have had an altar in our church. Between 1465
and 1520 there were at least three guilds with St Matthew's connections: St Erasmus,
St George, and Our Lady of Pity. The Painted Panels originate from the reign of Edward
IV (1461-
One of the other saints, it is supposed, may have been St Nicholas or St Eligius (or St Eloy). The latter was patron saint of artists and craftsmen, particularly goldsmiths and silversmiths, for in his lifetime he had been a famous worker in gold and silver before becoming a Bishop of Noyon in the sixth, century.
St Nicholas, of course, was the famous Bishop of Myra who became patron saint of
schoolboys, sailors, pawnbrokers and thieves. St Erasmus was a shadowy second century
bishop who was supposedly put to death by disembowelling, a fate which made him patron
saint of stomach-
Features of the interior of
St Matthew’s Church
The image above shows a depiction of the adoration of the magi.