The Church of St Andrew Brettenham

Norfolk

Fig. 1. View from south East

Conservation Based Research and Analysis Report

NHER: 6093 Shropham Hundred Rockland Deanery Stephen Heywood (HES) Historic Buildings Officer Historic Environment Service Norfolk County Council

12 November 2012

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Introduction This report forms part of the investigative stage of the financial grant procedure. It attempts to present an authoritative history of the fabric to inform the process of repair. The church of St Andrew consists of a west tower, an aisleless nave, a south porch in the centre of the nave, a pair of transepts from the east end of the nave, a chancel and a centrally planned vestry to the north. It is constructed of neatly laid random flint work of two types –the medieval tower and the Victorian facing of the rest. The roofs are covered with plain tiles with decorative terra cotta ridge tiles (Fig. 1). The church had a serious fire in 1693. The nave alone was rebuilt and in use by 1711 and looked very much like Ladbrooke’s lithograph of the 1820s (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Ladbrooke

Of the present church one recognises the tower, the gabled diagonal buttress to the SW corner of the nave and the position in the centre of the nave of the Romanesque doorway. Of the chancel only the gable-end and fragments of the side walls were standing. In 1852/3 The church was thoroughly restored by Lady Buxton to the designs of Samuel Sanders Teulon – a prolific Victorian architect with originality who was responsible for major works at Shadwell Court in the same parish and for the same client. He retained the nave with its north and south doorways and the tower adding transepts, a chancel, a vestry and a porch. He re-roofed, rebuilt the bell stage, re-fenestrated and re-faced the medieval building (Fig. 3).1 The church underwent a

1 NRO. FCP/36 Brettenham

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major re-fit in 1902-3 for John Musker of Shadwell Court under the direction of the artists/designers Percy Bacon and bros.

Fig. 3. Teulon’s proposals of 1852 and as built

Exterior A curiosity which requires some explanation is the position of the Norman doorway. The normal position for a nave entrance doorway is at one or both sides of the nave at its western end whilst here it is east of centre. This could be that the Norman nave was shorter and that it was extended westwards or more probably that a gallery existed before the fire of 1693 which prompted its relocation to its present position. On the other hand it may simply have been a desire to create a symmetrical façade facing Shadwell Court which had a direct footpath over two bridges to a separate lych-gate on the south side of the churchyard. The surviving medieval north doorway is directly opposite (Fig. ) It is the most important visible part of the surviving medieval church (fig 4). It consists of a semicircular arch decorated with two rows of single roll-moulded lateral chevron to face. The arch is supported on a pair of freestanding shafts which are decorated to the left with chevron and to the right with helical reeding. The capitals are of the volute type with bold chamfered abaci which are followed through to form imposts. A curious extra detail is applied to the soffit of the arch in the form of a rope moulding. It is probably a 1903 addition. Ladbrooke’s lithograph does not show the nook shafts which support the arch. This may be just an error or that they were missing at the time the drawing was made and were re-instated later. The fact that they are decorated differently does suggest that they are not Victorian creations. Also the stone type is different to the stone used for the Victorian dressings to all the renewed openings. The iron work of the door relates to the 1903 ironwork screens on the interior which were designed by Percy Bacon and bros.

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Fig. 4. The nave south doorway

The timber-framed porch is a Teulon design (fig. 5). It is an impressive show with the entrance formed of an ogee arch with large open mouchettes in the spandrels. Above are boldly cusped barge boards. The side walls have 5-light arcades of ogee arches with quatrefoil vesicas. The whole timber frame is supported on fairly tall masonry walls.

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Fig.5. Nave south wall and porch

Teulon faced and re-faced almost the entire church with small carefully selected whole flints. The openings are given containing arches of car stone which is an aspect of Teulon’s taste for polychromy. The style of tracery chosen by Teulon is Decorated with an impressive south transept window of three lights with radiating mouchettes (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. South transept window

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Fig. 7. North transept gable

The spherical triangular window in the gable of the north transept is so placed in order to accommodate the organ (Fig.7). It is filled with three mouchette wheels. Of special interest also is Teulon’s octagonal vestry on the north side of the chancel; and on the south side an elaborate priest’s door with an ogee head (Figs.8 & 1)

Fig. 8. Vestry

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The vestry was severely damaged by water and rot to the point where in 1971 demolition was considered. However, it has been repaired and kept dry. The re-roofing lacks the grace which it must surely have had in 1853. The north wall retains the medieval or 1711 dressings to the doorway (Figs 9 and 10). It is shown as to be retained on Teulon’s plan and the mouldings are of 14th-century profiles, the large voussoirs and the very tight joints suggest that the arch itself has been rebuilt imitating the original mouldings. The wave-moulded jambs may be the re-set originals. Victorian label stops of expressive human heads are added as well as the typical car stone over arch.

Fig 9. The north doorway

The western corners of the nave have the original medieval buttresses re-faced and dressed. They are exceptional in that they have gabled tops rather than the usual sloped staging.. The Tower The tower is a simple structure with no buttresses and a comparison with the Ladbrooke lithograph makes it clear that the bell stage was rebuilt. We learn that it was lady Buxton’s sister who paid for the new bells and probably the bell stage itself. However a faculty was made in 1935 to repair the tower parapets which looks to mean that they were rebuilt (fig.10). The interior of the tower reveals some interesting detail suggesting that the tower is a re-working of an early medieval round tower. This is suggested by the rounded corners above the tower arch and by the cut-off western corners in the tower (Fig. 10).

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Fig. 9. The church from the north west

Fig. 10. South east internal corner of tower

Interior The roof structures are all Teulon’s including the bold cusped trusses in the chancel (fig.15) The decoration and furnishing of the church by the Buxtons in 1852/3 consisted of four stained glass windows, a painted chancel ceiling, painted biblical texts around the window and door heads, painted texts in blind arcading beneath the east window and the organ was given by Sir Robert Buxton while the baronet’s mother carried the expense of restoring and decorating the church. Lady Buxton’s sister Isabella contributed a peal of five bells made by Taylor of Loughborough. The church was opened for divine service on Thursday 24th February 1853 as reported in

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the newspaper with a description of the works undertaken.2 Apart from the new roofs, it would appear that Teulon did not spend much time on the decoration and furnishing of the interiors. This was left to the Muskers in 1902-3 when an ambitious scheme of embellishment was undertaken. A lot of this was painted decoration which Andrea Kirkham has analysed. Apart from this there is the stained glass which is not exceptional, the iron screens, the rood screen and the reredos. The firm of Percy Bacon and Bros. was employed to design these things and their drawings are preserved in the Norfolk Record office.3 The iron screens are quite exceptional examples of metal work with complex elaboration. There are gates to the tower arch and screens to the transepts (Figs 11 -13) .

2 Norfolk Chronicle, 5th March 1853 3 NRO. DN/CON 163 [Brettenham]

Fig 12. Tower arch gates

Fig.11. North transept screen

Fig.13. South transept screen

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Fig.14.Tower arch gates

Each screen has separate designs and each is very elaborate and brilliantly executed. They must be seen as matching medieval screens with different materials although metal work was a highly developed art in the Middle Ages. It is hard to find comparable work in churches but in general it equals great gates such as the Norwich gates at Sandringham made by Barnard, Bishop and Barnard of Norwich. The records do not reveal the names of the manufacturers but the drawings, which are presumably specifications, were accurately followed. Further research into the unusual ironwork would be worthy of pursuit (Fig. 14).

The rood screen is quite different in its materials yet the drawings have been rubber stamped by Percy Bacon and Bros. The screen has vividly veined alabaster dados surmounted with open timber arcading with tracery, flanking the cusped central entrance archway. This has traceried spandrels and is surmounted by an open gable which inhabits the chancel arch and has a rood at its peak and attended by four angels. The drawing is clearly intended to specify and it has been altered to omit the initially proposed gates (Figs 15 & 16).

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Figs 15 & 16. the rood screen

This is an original interpretation of a medieval screen and the use of alabaster matches the floor tiles and the communion balustrade (fig17).

The final major contribution by the Muskers is the reredos from the Percy Bacon house again (Figs17 & 18).

Fig. 17. Reredos and communion balustrade

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Fig. 18. Reredos drawing

The reredos is an impressive display of intricately carved woodwork surrounding a painting of the Nativity with painted side panels representing the Annunciation. The drawing shows the altar piece in situ as the tracery is clearly depicted. The provision of a curtain obscured the painted blind arcading which was part of the Buxton works of 1852. The reredos also obscured the stained glass in the east window which was subsequently partly removed and replaced in the upper parts only.

The original altar piece is a riot of detail referring to the Arts and Crafts movement in some ways, to the Gothic Revival of the Pugin sort and to the Baroque – a fitting precedent for Ninian Comper.

Summary

The bright and richly colourful interior of which Andrea Kirkham has revealed glimpses and of which documents record is less difficult to imagine but nevertheless a serious loss.

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The events to which this account refers are as follows:

• A Romanesque church with a round tower and the surviving decorated with chevron of circa 1120.

• 14th Century church with altered tower and re-fenestration of nave. Chancel with east window. See Ladbrooke.

• 1693 – 1711. Fire followed by repair of nave roof and tower only leaving the chancel in ruins

• 1852-3. The Buxtons of Shadwell Court employ S S Teulon to restore and extend the church. He retains the nave and tower yet the nave is re-faced. He provides chancel, transepts and a vestry. He re-roofs nave as part of the new work.

• 1902 -3. The Musker family richly furnish and boldly decorate the church with original metalwork and furnishing through the firm of Percy Bacon and Bros.

• 1935. Repair to tower parapets

The quinquennial surveys, which began in 1958, are a catalogue of decline which is gradually being reversed with the drains, gutters and roofs already repaired and functioning.

Stephen Heywood