The Catholic Parish Church of Our Lady & Saint Peter - Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Posted by: greysman
N 52° 09.152 W 001° 36.025
30U E 595752 N 5778926
An unfinished Catholic church in an elevated position above this popular coastal town.
Waymark Code: WMP1WY
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/12/2015
Views: 1
The church of Our Lady & Saint Peter on The Terrace, Aldeburgh is in partnership with All Saints at Leiston. It is constructed of flint and puddingstone with limestone detailing, it has a pantile roof.
To start it is an 'anomoly' being aligned north-south instead of east-west with the porch, at the given co-ordinates, being at the east. Then if this were a Church of England church, the aspe, to the right when entering, would be the chancel end, liturgically east, and contain the sanctuary and altar. Here the aspe is screened off and is used as a sacristy. The altar is to the left and the aspe is not an aspe, it's the remains of a round tower, a modern one of which there are few in Suffolk. When the church was built it was intended to be in the style of a round towered medieval church of which there are 40-or-so in the county, especially along the coast. In old pictures it can be seen that the tower was much higher and complete, it was damaged during WWII by German bombing and never rebuilt to its former height.
Above the porch archway, in a niche in the stepped and castellated pediment is a very worn statuette of St.Peter, amazingly his left hand and the key he is holding is the only part not severely worn, has it been replaced at some time?
There are also signs of 'work unfinished, a wood-paneled wall to the north indicates uncompleted plans for further extension.
For more information see Our Lady & Saint Peter