Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - St Mary: The third largest parish church in England, St Mary was rebuilt in the C15th, funded by donations from wealthy locals. The nave roof was probably the gift of John Baret, a wealthy and well-connected cloth merchant, who lived in Bury, and died in 1467, leaving a fabulously detailed will. His cadaver tomb is in the north aisle of the church. In addition to his evident wealth, Baret had been awarded the "Collar of Esses", a badge of preferment under the royal house of Lancaster. He married Elizabeth Drury, whose family had connections to Hawstead in Suffolk, the location of another angel roof church (see the entry for Hawstead, below).
St Mary's Bury is arguably the finest angel roof in England. Hammerbeams alternate with arch-braces; the hammerbeams are carved as recumbent angels, set in pairs, eleven on each side of the nave. The final pair of angels (repainted in the C19th) in the ceilure, the roof section closest to the altar, are inscribed with Baret's motto "Grace me Govern". This is the basis for believing that Baret was either the sole donor, or at least the leading sponsor of the roof, enabling him to place his motto in "pole position" in the bay immediately before the altar, for everyone to see.
The angels seem to form a procession, vested for High Mass. Starting from the East End, nearest the altar, they run as follows: 1) the painted angels of the ceilure, 2) incense bearers, carrying incense boats and spoons, 3) thurifers, carrying censers, 4) taperers, carrying spiked candlesticks, 5) sub-deacons, bearing bibles, 6) chalice bearers, 7) clergy, wearing chasubles, 8) choirmasters, their hands raised as if conducting, 9) archangels, clad in suits of feathers, 10) young women, bearing crowns, 11) and finally, at the west end, crowned kings, holding sceptres, one bearing a heart, the other a book.
Writing in the 1960s, JBL Tolhurst plausibly suggested that the king angels represent Henry VI (there is a marked similarity between the figures here and coin portraits of the king), and that the young women, bearing but not wearing crowns, are Margaret of Anjou, who was betrothed to Henry in 1444, married him in April 1445 and was then crowned queen consort in May of the same year. Tolhurst therefore believes that the angel roof was commissioned during the period between the betrothal and Margaret's coronation (1444-1445) and that this is why the female figure carries, but does not yet wear the crown. Stylistically, the angel roof is consistent with a date in the 1440s.
Henry VI's marriage to Margaret was brokered by William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk and eminence grise to the blindingly ineffectual king. William was the second son of Michael de la Pole, the likely sponsor of the angel roof at St Agnes Cawston. The world of angel roofs is also very often the world of rich local elites, and so it is full of interconnections.
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - St Mary: A view along the nave roof, showing the alternating angel hammerbeams and arch-braces.
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - St Mary: An angel "taperer" carries a spiked candlestick, and in his right hand a small box, perhaps meant to contain a flint and steel for lighting candles.
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - St Mary: Another of the hammerbeam angels, dressed as a celebrant of the Mass, his hands joined in prayer. The right wing bears a chalked graffito left by one of the workmen from the restoration of the early 1960s: "KWJ Cornish, Perry Road, 1963".
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - St Mary: An archangel, from the south side of the nave roof. He is clad in a suit of feathers, like an actor in a medieval pageant or mystery play, and bears a wand and scroll.
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - St Mary: A young woman bears a crown. Following JBL Tolhurst's theory, Mortlock writes that she "could well represent Margaret of Anjou, betrothed to Henry VI in 1444 and crowned in May 1445" and adds "it is tempting to suppose that the roof was finished in time for Henry to see it when he held his parliament in the [Bury] abbey refectory in February 1447".
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - St Mary: One of the pair of "king" figures at the west end of the nave roof. Mortlock (see the Bibliography) thinks that the features are reminiscent of the portrait of Henry VI now in the National Portrait Gallery, though personally I see little similarity. The long hair and features of this carving are more like those of Henry VI as crudely depicted on his coinage. Coin portraits would have been the most widely known images of the king.
Bardwell, Suffolk - SS Peter and Paul: A section of the roof, which is an arch-brace and hammerbeam construction. Unlike most angel roofs, it can be precisely dated, as one of the four remaining angels carries a book bearing the date 1421 in Roman numerals (though the angels may have been repainted). The painting on the roof beams themselves is almost certainly original. The restrained colour palette, of white, red, green and black, is similar to that at Palgrave and Blythburgh, also in Suffolk. The middle two angels in this photograph have been prised off the hammerbeams, exposing the tenon (the projecting wooden tab) which would have fitted into the mortice (or corresponding slot) on the body of the sculpture. This destruction is almost certainly the work of Puritan iconoclasts, because a parish invoice survives, dated 7 February 1644, paying workmen for "pulling down the ymages" and "defacing pictures in glass and wood". The job lasted at least five days, and was probably done in anticipation of a visit from William Dowsing, who was in the area at that time. There were originally 26 roof angels here. Now only four remain. But why did the four survive? Perhaps because by the time 22 had been destroyed, Dowsing had left the area, and the parish decided to cut the destruction short to save money.
Bardwell, Suffolk - SS Peter and Paul: A close-up of the roof angel which enables us to precisely date this roof. He carries a book bearing the date 1421 (MCCCCXXI), partly obscured in this photograph. Given the date, it is likely that the roof was funded by Sir William de Bardwell (1367-1434) a prominent sponsor of this church. Bardwell was a career soldier. He entered the service of the Duke of Suffolk in 1400. As Henry V's standard bearer in his French campaigns, William de Bardwell probably fought at Agincourt. He is depicted, in armour, in one of the windows on the north side of the nave. The image has been slightly damaged and is patched with fragments of other glass, but it survived the religious vandalism of 1644. Heraldic and donor windows were generally not targeted.
Blythburgh, Suffolk - Holy Trinity: Famous as "the Cathedral of the Marshes", Holy Trinity was rebuilt between 1412 and 1480, while retaining an existing C14th tower. The drawn-out period of rebuilding reflects that fact that the village was not particularly prosperous by the C15th. Expenditure was spread over many years, funded piecemeal by a series of local sponsors rather than by one or a handful of rich donors able to put the money up front. The roof is a cambered tie-beam structure, richly painted along its whole length; the colour is almost certainly original. The restrained palette is similar to the painted roofs at Bardwell and Palgrave, also in Suffolk. Pairs of exquisitely carved and coloured angels adorn the intersection of the roof beams, facing East and West. They hold shields bearing the arms of the principal sponsors of the rebuilding.
On April 9th 1644, the Puritan iconoclast William Dowsing visited Blythburgh as part of his commission to destroy religious imagery and Laudian "innovations" (such as altar rails and steps) in the Eastern counties. He ordered "twenty cherubim to be taken down...and gave order to take down above 200 more pictures (i.e. stained glass images)...within eight days". Dowsing's journal records that he visited at least five other churches in the area on the same day.
Much of Dowsing's iconoclastic progress through Suffolk was very hurried. He would arrive at a church, identify offending images and instruct that they be destroyed within a fixed period. If time allowed, he might oversee some limited destruction there and then, before moving on to the next target. Sadly, most of Blythburgh's medieval glass was destroyed, but Dowsing's orders to take down the roof angels were not followed. A comparison of the instructions detailed in his journal with what remains at many of the churches he visited, shows that this was often the case. Once he had gone, churchwardens and parishioners chose not to follow his orders, either because the work was too arduous (perhaps particularly so with roof angels) or because they did not share his Puritan zeal.
Blythburgh's angels do show signs of shot damage, and it used to be thought that this had been inflicted during the Puritan iconoclasm. However, restoration works in 1974 revealed that the shot embedded in the angels was of a type not known before the C18th, and the churchwardens' accounts for the period show that the shot damage was a result of attempts to clear flocks of jackdaws from the church.
Blythburgh, Suffolk - Holy Trinity: Paired C15th roof angels at the intersections of the arch braces and central roof beam.
Blythburgh, Suffolk - Holy Trinity: A C15th roof angel carrying the arms of one of the prominent sponsors of the rebuilding, which took place between 1412 and 1480.
Blythburgh, Suffolk - Holy Trinity: Close-up of a C15th roof angel.
Blythburgh, Suffolk - Holy Trinity: Another roof angel close-up.
Cotton, Suffolk - St Andrew: A superb false double hammerbeam roof, of similar design to that at Bacton nearby. Hammerbeams alternate with arch-braced trusses. The lower tier of hammers has no angels, but "pendant" hammer posts which project below the hammerbeams and terminate in finials. On the upper tier, the hammers are adorned with angels. In a bequest of 1471 a certain Thomas Cook left land to fund a new roof, dating the construction to the early 1470s. Note how the bay nearest the chancel arch is boarded, unlike the others. This segment was the ceilure or "canopy of honour" and would have been richly decorated reflecting its proximity to the altar.
Cotton, Suffolk - St Andrew: A close-up of the double hammerbeam structure. The upper hammer is purely decorative and does not bear weight; consequently this is a so-called false double hammerbeam roof. For an example of a true double hammer beam roof, see St Mary's church at Gissing in Norfolk.
Cotton, Suffolk - St Andrew: A close-up of one of the angels on the upper tier of hammerbeams. This is a modern restoration. Most of Cotton's angels are replacements. The originals were presumably destroyed by iconoclasts. An item in the church records of 1645 details spending on the removal of "pictures" (presumably stained glass) but says nothing about angels. They may therefore have been removed in the Reformation iconoclasm of the 1540s.
Hawstead, Suffolk - All Saints: The nave roof at Hawstead was heavy-handedly restored in 1858; the angels' heads and wings are mostly Victorian replacements, though well carved. The bodies look original. The roof alternates arch-braced collars with full-body angel hammerbeams, and is generally said to date from the C16th, close to 1550. (After about 1550 the commissioning of a roof such as this is very unlikely as the Reformation proscriptions on imagery had really begun to bite).
If a date in the second quarter of the C16th is right, then Hawstead's would be the latest East Anglian angel roof I know of.
I have not so far been able to find out what evidence a C16th date for Hawstead's roof is based on and I am very sceptical of such a late date. The pattern of hammerbeams carved into full length angels is typically a pre-1450 design feature (see for example St Mary Bury St Edmunds or St George Methwold, elsewhere on this site). It feels quite anachronistic to commission an angel roof so late, and extremely anachronistic to opt for a full angel hammerbeam design.
It is true that the Drury family, who were Lords of the Manor at Hawstead in the C16th, would have had the money and status for such an undertaking. Sir Robert Drury (died 1536) was Speaker of the House of Commons, a member of Henry VII's Privy Council, and accompanied Henry VIII to the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. His London home gave Drury Lane its name.
However, the Drury family's association with Hawstead (and their wealth) stretches far further back than the C16th.
Birkin Haward saw stylistic similarities between the roof structure and carving of Hawstead and the angel roof at St Mary's, Bury, a roof which dates from the 1440s. They both have alternating hammer beams and arch-braces, and both have recumbent full length angels.
The donor of the angel roof at Bury, John Baret, was married to Elizabeth Drury, daughter of Sir Roger Drury. Like Baret, the Drury family were, at this time, wealthy clothiers. Based on style and familial connection, I'd suggest that Hawstead's angel roof may have been inspired by Baret's roof at Bury (or vice versa), and that it probably dates from the first half of the C15th, not the C16th.
Hawstead, Suffolk - All Saints: A full-length hammerbeam angel. The wings and head are Victorian, dating from the restoration of 1858. The body is original.
Hawstead, Suffolk - All Saints: Hawstead, Suffolk - All Saints: A full-length hammerbeam angel. The wings, head and hands are Victorian, dating from the restoration of 1858. The body is original.
Hawstead, Suffolk - All Saints: Hawstead, Suffolk - All Saints: A full-length hammerbeam angel. The wings, head and probably the hands are Victorian, dating from the restoration of 1858. The body is original.
Mildenhall, Suffolk - St Mary: The alternating arch-brace and hammerbeam roof dates from the 1420s and was probably endowed by Sir Henry Barton, who came from Mildenhall and was Lord Mayor of London in 1416 and 1428. Barton was a contemporary of Sir Richard Whittington (also Mayor of London in the early 1400s and inaccurately immortalised in pantomime). Sir Henry Barton has a cenotaph at Mildenhall, but was actually buried in old St Paul's in London, destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.
Mildenhall, Suffolk - St Mary: The nave roof and clearstorey windows.
Mildenhall, Suffolk - St Mary: The structure is an arch-braced tie-beam roof, with queen posts rising to the ridge. The quality and complexity of the carpentry and the high standard of the carving suggest that top craftsmen were brought in from outside the locality. In the North Aisle (not shown here) the spandrels have some of the finest medieval carving in England; intricately depicted scenes include a hunt, the Annunciation, and the Angel telling the Shepherds of Christ's birth. The spandrels also carry images associated with the livery badges of Henry V (a collared swan, a chained antelope). Sir Henry Barton, who was probably the sponsor of the rebuilding of St Mary's in the 1420's, evidently prospered under Henry V, becoming Lord Mayor of London for the first time in 1416 - the year after the Battle of Agincourt.
Mildenhall, Suffolk - St Mary: Close-up of one of the roof angels. He carries a hammer and nails, symbols of Christ's Passion, and is draped with cobwebs.
Mildenhall, Suffolk - St Mary: Another roof angel close-up. This one carries a book, presumably a Bible.