The church of St Mary the Virgin in East Bergholt Suffolk is a medieval church built in the 15th and 16th cent. It is well known as the church with no tower to house the bells. Work began on the tower in 1525 but not completed due to shortage of funds.
A bell cage was erected as a temporary measure in 1531 and houses the heaviest five bell peal in the country. Whilst other bell cages exist it is the method of ringing which makes these bells unique.
They are not rung from below by pulling on a rope but by holding onto the blue headstock and pushing.
Inside the church is a stained glass window dedicated to Constable. One of the sections makes reference to his art with a painter sketching the Virgin Mary.
You can see original memorials dating back to the 16th C and 17thC inside the church.
A bell cage was erected as a temporary measure in 1531 and houses the heaviest five bell peal in the country. Whilst other bell cages exist it is the method of ringing which makes these bells unique.They are not rung from below by pulling on a rope but by holding onto the blue headstock and pushing.
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| John Constable, the English landscape artist , was born in the village of East Bergholt and painted the church |
You can see original memorials dating back to the 16th C and 17thC inside the church.
An amazingly old church. Your photos show the great workmanship of hundreds of years ago. The bell cage was interesting. I have never seen or heard of them before.
ReplyDeleteThose upside down bells are very special, I have never seen that before,The painting looks very nice and romantic.
ReplyDeleteit is a masterpiece I can say history is speaking to everybody. Memorials are lovely.
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing that craftsmen so long ago were able to create such magnificent structures with hand tools!
ReplyDeleteWonderful church another place to add to my list. Pemeridge church has a bell tower like that
ReplyDeleteI appreciate learning something new - that there's another way to ring a bell.
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to work out how the bell rings without the clapper hanging downward! I love the stonework on the outside and wonder that all that old mortar is still holding the small stones together. So interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting old church! Thanks for sharing your photos and story.
ReplyDeletestrange to fine a reflection in there. :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I saw the exact same "knight kneeling" memorial in a church in the Cotswolds. It must have been a favorite at the time.
ReplyDeleteWonderful history. Did you feel any ghosts nudging you?
ReplyDeleteThe old spellings are interesting. It would be quite draughty in the bell cage.
ReplyDeleteWow---that is an old church, isn't it???? Loved seeing it --and would love to see it in person. That painting is amazing.... Thanks so much for sharing that fantastic history with us.
ReplyDeleteWe had a freak snowstorm here in TN over the weekend... I'll blog about it tomorrow.
Hugs,
Betsy
Thank you for the very interesting tour.
ReplyDeleteThe history which is evident on so many of your bidding must surely incline one to have a great interest in times past. Australia by comparison is so young and we tend to generally give less attention to history.
ReplyDelete