The Parish Church of Saint Nicholas
The parish church of Saint Nicholas stands in a commanding position on high ground north of the village. the church is built in the perpendicular style with large windows and dates from the late 15th century although the tower is from the 14th century and the nave has a thatched roof. Inside the church the base of the chancel screen can still be seen. the base is painted red green and gold and was decorated by a 15th-century artist. Roses and leaves have been carved in the tracery of the panels, on which there are paintings of the eight apostles. The interior of the roof is decorated bosses. Some of them feature Tudor roses, another a lion, but others have faces on them. One face is of Christ, with the five pointed beard. Another face is surrounded by a crown of thorns, in the rope style of the 15th century. A third face is surrounded by sun rays and represents Christ in glory. Displayed on the north wall there is a little crucifix. It was found in separate pieces over several days in March 1937 on the beach at Walcott, after storms had eroded the cliffs there. Each piece was thickly caked with clay. It is believed the crucifix had been buried purposely and may have been hidden at the time of the Reformation by locals, before the Anglican reformers came and stole it from them, although this is only local folklore with no provenance to prove this case.
Read more about this topic: Swafield
Famous quotes containing the words parish, church, saint and/or nicholas:
“When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls, and the stars begin to flicker in the sky,”
—Mitchell Parish (1901–1993)
“If church prelates, past or present, had even an inkling of physiology they’d realise that what they term this inner ugliness creates and nourishes the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the active mind, and energetic body of man and woman, in the same way that dirt and dung at the roots give the plant its delicate leaves and the full-blown rose.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)
“You, mistress,
That have the office opposite to Saint Peter,
And keeps the gate of hell!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Chanuka and St. Nicholas Day came almost together this year—just one day’s difference. We didn’t make much fuss about Chanuka: we just gave each other a few little presents and then we had the candles. Because of the shortage of candles we only had them alight for ten minutes, but it is all right as long as you have the song.”
—Anne Frank (1929–1945)