During the 'Our
Town' exhibition held in Christchurch Mansion during the
first Ip-art festival in July 2003, we noticed a wonderful picture of
St
Lawrence Church in Dial Lane painted in a gorgeous diffuse sunlight by
Howard
Gaye in 1882, presumably from the basket of a hot air balloon! This
prompted
us to seek out the 'S' and 'L' of 'St Lawrence' in the medallions near
the
top of the tower. Then we saw some even more obscure characters in the
weather
vein on the very top! Let's walk up Dial Lane past the church and into
the
lower part of Tower Street and look back ... -
Yes, now we can see it. If the wretched wind had been
blowing in the opposite
direction, we could have captured the whole thing in the upper
pictures.
Cut out of the metal is the impressively early date of '1799', which
must
be one of the earliest example of lettering on the site. Ironic, too,
that this weather vein spins atop a tower which was built nealt 100
years later.
Having visited St Lawrence in 1990 for a Youngblood
exhibition, we can recall
the amazing blue light through the surviving windows and the truly
marvellous
polychrome stone, terra cotta, flint and tile decoration and carvings
in
its lofty tower. On the ground its not a pretty sight: dirty, worn
stonework,
an abused area surrounding the church - barely a churchyard - thank
goodness
that the Great Gippeswyckian Carl Giles celebrated the church towers in
some of his cartoons. Giles, 1971. St Mary Le
Tower with St Lawrence in background.
Above is 'Ipswich and the Church of St Lawrence' (the view from Tavern
Street down Dial Lane) a steel engraving from Dugdale's England and
Wales Delineated: Curiosities of Great Britain published from 1835 to
about 1848.
Above the close-built shops rises a fine 15th century
tower, its windows outlined in brick, curious little 18th century urns
topping the corners of what is otherwise a typical Suffolk church
tower. So the amazing, decorative top was not always there.
In 1882, the London firm of Barnes and Gaye were commisioned to rebuild
the upper part of the tower of St Lawrence's church. They produced one
of the most extraordinary confections to grace any Suffolk church, more
noticeably so because of the rarity of Victorian towers in Ipswich in
particular and Suffolk in general. Angels, flowers and mystical symbols
interleave amongst geometric flintwork designs.
Since the tower was cleaned in 1996, the variety of materials used has
become apparent, from brilliant whites and soft pinks to the yellow of
the stonework and iron grey of the flint. Each side of the tower is
different; each view and each perspective has something new to offer.
Our thanks to Simon's Suffolk Churches site (See Links)
for additional information.
After many years of closure and neglect, this disused church was
invested in by Ipswich Borough and Suffolk County Councils as well as
central government in 2008; is now fully refurbished and open as a
restaurant. The interior is as impressive as the exterior.
However, the story - from this website's point
of view (insofar
as a website can have a point of view) - does not end there. The
October 2009 issue of the Ipswich Society (see Links)
Newsletter carried an
article by that tireless documenter of local history, Dr John
Blatchley. He has managed to untangle the flushwork (stone and
knapped flint) lettering below the window at the east end of the
exterior of St Lawrence. Here is a set of photographs of the site taken in January 2011
(reading more or less complete from left to right): It is documented that according to a will of 1488 the
chancel of the church (the bit where the altar stands) was built
largely at the expense of John Baldwyn, a draper; at his death he was
survived by his widow, Joan, but no children. Alongside the symbolic
panels which included the shears of his trade an inscription was
included in the east wall:
'Pray for the soules of John Baldwyn
Draper and Jone hys wyf and alle
xtn sowles am'
It is almost as if the letterers didn't quite plan out
the available
space and had to curtail words towards the end: "xtn" stands for
"Christian" - the same as in 'Xmas' (ouch) and "am" is short for
"amen".
Alas, the Victorian restorers/rebuilders of St Lawrence inherited
a building in poor repair, particularly in this area. In 1752 the
dilapidated dedication had been covered with mortar and the 1858
restorers changed 'Jone' to 'Jane' (although this now seems to read
'Jone' once again) and the end of the inscription after
the word "alle" to:
'Pray for the soules of John Baldwyn
Draper and Jone hys wyf and for alle the
good donors'
Retouched image of the right end of the
inscription
Only in 2009, now that the
greasy soot and grime has been cleaned away by Simon Swann and his team
from Wrentham, can this lettering be properly seen. We are pleased to
include the above set of photographs of this "fascinating and touching
piece of medieval
history right in the middle of the town" as the Newsletter describes it. As ever,
our thanks to these enthusiasts who keep an eye on such corners of
Ipswich history and bring it to our attention. Note also in the image
the presence to the upper right of the 'ihc' monogram which can also
be found at St Peter's Church and is
explained there. The medallions to the left are: a shield, a flushwork
monogram 'JB' (the 'J' resembling a n 'I') for
'John Baldwyn' and the upside-down, half-open draper's shears on a
shield. The medallions to the right are: 'ihc', a fine, recently
restored spiral/circle relief and a crowned and rather indecipherable 'AMR'
monogram in flushwork. Simon Knott (see Simon's Suffolk Churches in Links) tells us that: "it is AMR, the
conventional monogram for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Most people seem to
think it stands for Ave Maria Regina, although there are other
interpretations." Thanks to him for the demystification.
A few doors down Dial Lane, see 'Scarborow'
the Art Nouveau shop front of Pickwick's Tea & Coffee shop.
-
Giles, 1971. St Mary Le
Tower with St Lawrence in background.
Retouched image of the right end of the
inscription