Monday, 16 September 2013

Thorpe le Soken

St Michael was locked no keyholder but is apparently open on Saturdays which is a shame as I'd have liked to see the screen and the knight. I thought the Victorian built nave and chancel were well done particularly the north porch with its terracotta (?) doorway.

ST MICHAEL. 1876 by W. White. The early C16 brick W tower was allowed to remain. Blue brick diapers, diagonal buttresses. The bell openings of two lights with a circle as tracery - all in brick. A pretty weather-vane of 1902 on a kind of needle spirelet. - FONT. Octagonal, Perp, the sides have star-shaped panels with shields. - SCREEN. S chapel, C15. The tracery of each division is of two intersected ogee arches, cusped and crocketed. - PLATE. Paten on foot, 1695. - MONUMENT. Effigy in chain-mail of a knight, his legs crossed; c. 1300. The effigy lies under a canopy with thin diapered angle buttresses and a cusped and sub-cusped ogee arch. Thick band of crocketing with large bossy leaves.

St Michael (4)

West door

THORPE-LE-SOKEN. A little village near the Landermere Creek of Hanford Water, it has a green and an inn with an overhanging storey built 400 years ago.

The church has been made new except for the tower, which has 16th century brick walls. The oldest thing left is the Norman base of the font, and the most beautiful thing left is an oak screen of Shakespeare’s day, on which are carved angels holding shields. Under a 14th century arch in the chancel lies the figure of a mailed knight who may have fought with Simon de Montfort, his feet resting on a lion. On the wall of the tower is a tablet to Thomas Wharton, secretary to Charles Stuart’s evil genius, Henrietta Maria.

This small place gave two martyrs to the fires, William Hale and Thomas Leyes, both burned in 1555 because they were Protestants.

Simon K -

Locked, no keyholder. This is a big, ugly church, rebuilt in the late 19th century from red brick, rubble, puddingstone and ragstone, a huge tower and big aisles running up to the chancel wall.

In such a large, busy village it seemed impossible that the church was not accessible but this is a Forward in Faith church, and so probably has a congregation of about two.

Forward in Faith is the traditionalist wing of the Anglo-Catholic movement. They're the lot who stopped there being woman bishops. They don't like us heathens going in their churches.

As a real Catholic (hah!) I find this attitude entirely incomprehensible. Perhaps they labour under the misapprehension that God will be offended by the presence of atheists, Lutherans, Romanists and menstruating women, but of course I think they are wrong.

I thought about phoning the minister, but the last two Forward in Faith vicars I tangled with were both mildly hysterical, and one has since been imprisoned, so I resisted the temptation and headed westwards to Weeley.

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