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I had long been
looking forward to coming back to Cotton.
On my first tour of the churches of
Suffolk ten years ago, it had been one of
my favourites of the 550-odd churches I'd
visited. I cycled out this way in the
bitter february of 2009, breathless with
the cold as much and with anticipation.
But the church was locked, something I
had not found ten years ago. There was a
keyholder notice, but it was a telephone
number, and there was no answer. It took
me two more visits before I found someone
in, which is a great shame, because this
is a smashing church,
full of delights, and yet little known.
It is probably the best building of the
Decorated period in all Suffolk. Cotton
is a scattered village ajoining the
larger Bacton,
with which it is in a joint benefice. The
roads twist and turn around the sheltered
churchyard; it is a lush, secret place.
The building seems relaxed, and slightly
battered, compared with the rigours of
Perpendicular to be found around and
about. There are two niches in the east
wall, facing the road, their crowning
turrets rising either side of the
gorgeous tracery.
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The
building unfolds as you approach the south porch.
The bumpy, verdant graveyard is a cushioned
setting for this jewel. The Decorated windows of
the aisles, with
their reticulated tracery, are all slightly
different. Above them towers the Perpendicular clerestory, its
windows picked out in brick. Typical for Suffolk;
but, on this occasion, taking a back seat.
The
porch itself also has two little turrets, and
decorated tracery in the walls. Marian imagery
decorates the outside, as well as some rather odd
(and unfinished) Victorian patterns. They seem
intended to echo the 15th century flintwork
patterns in the clerestory. The porch contains
one of the county's best 14th century doorways.
The arch consists of sets of three fluted
columns, supporting elegant lines and fleurons,
retaining much of their original paint. The door
looks as if it might be original. The porch also
contains a stoup, which
looks like a mortar set in the wall, but may also
be original.
Before
going in, however, walk around to the west side
of the tower for a rather startling surprise. A
great archway is cut in the wall, towering about
thirty feet above the ground and enclosed by a
wrought iron screen. It contains the
bell-ringers' chamber, as well as a bier, and a
rather precarious ladder to the belfry. Above the
arch, three large niches may have contained a
rood group. The tower is a chunky 15th century
affair, buttressed only in the lower stages.
large Decorated bell windows open beneath
grotesques, although it is a shame about the
louvres in them. This tower was built to stand
against this nave; notice the decorated west
window in the interior wall of the archway. From
within the church, it appears that there is no
tower.
The
graveyard at the west end is rich with bracken,
angelica and primroses. It is very beautiful. In
recent years, a simple circle of ground has been
set aside for the interment of ashes. This is not
always done well in churchyards, but here there
is a lovely headstone inscribed remember the people of Cotton
whose ashes lie here at the top
of the circle, and a line of shingle which
enfolds the inner ground.
Suffolk
Perpendicular has a way of looking younger than
it actually is. Decorated reveals its age rather
more easily, and as you return to the church and
step inside, you enter a seemingly ancient space.
The stark white walls and arcades rise up
into the shadows, surmounted by one of Suffolk's
most beautiful double-hammerbeam roofs. The
arcade to the north aisle in particular leans out
most alarmingly. The roof is a beautiful golden
oak colour. It was built in the 15th century, at
the same time as the clerestory. Bequests expert
Simon Cotton tells me that a Thomas Cook, in his
will of 1471, left a close called Garlekis
towards the reparation and edification of the
new roof of Cotton church. And so, here it
is. The most easterly bay is panelled, to form a
canopy of honour to the rood. None of the rood
apparatus survives, but not only can you see how
it cut into the chancel arch, the cutting away of
tracery beneath the most easterly clerestory
windows shows where the rood loft stood, and how
big it was. The stairs come in from the chancel, and would
have turned outside the chancel arch into the
loft. It must have been a magnificent sight
before the protestant vandals of the 1540s
destroyed it.
In the chancel itself, a
beautiful set of sedilia
and piscina
are crowned with decorated canopies, the
middle two missing. The more you explore,
the more you discover, and the more you
sense what a significant building this
is. Take, for example, the tomb recess in
the north aisle. It is now cropped by the
modern pews. The church guide suggests
that it was not an Easter sepulchre,
and yet, I think that it might have been,
and I remain to be convinced that only
tombs in the north wall of the chancel
were used for this purpose. The 17th
century pulpit is
a beautiful colour, unstained and golden.
An alarming creature acts as a handhold;
a griffin, perhaps. The
font is
reddish, like that at Nettlestead,
and there are some jolly monks and
priests around the shaft; but they may
have been recut.A scattering of medieval
glass adds a frisson of colour to the
clerestory windows. Otherwise, all is
stark white and wood. This whole building
is, I think, one of the most beautiful
art objects in the county; it deserves to
be so much better known than it is.
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