St Peter - Henley, Suffolk - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

"St Peter is blessed with churchwardens determined to keep it open, taking seriously their responsibility to be a living act of witness. They are to be congratulated.You step into the porch, past an unusual stone board of rectors of the parish. These boards, to be found in most churches, but usually made of wood, were a Victorian conceit, to try and overcome the rifts of the Reformation and Commonwealth. To see that long succession back into the 13th century, you might think that the Church of England had always been here, and had always been like this.

Prominent among the names on it are the father and son Henry and William Pearson. Dynasties of Rectors are fairly common, but what makes this pair remarkable is that they had care of the parish for a little short of a hundred years between them.

They entirely oversaw the Anglican revival in this place. Indeed, they were probably responsible for this board itself. It seems incredible to think that Henry took charge when the first waves of the Oxford Movement were beginning to rock the CofE boat; when he became Rector here, Newman had only just renounced Anglicanism.

His son, on the other hand, was Rector during the two world wars; in fact, he died in a fall during the blackout. They must have baptised, married and buried generations of villagers between them, while at the same time turning their church from a preaching house into a sacramental Gate of Heaven. They are buried in the churchyard. It is like a novel.

You step into their legacy, a neat, pleasant Victorianised church, entirely Anglican, thoroughly welcoming. There is not much to show inside for the medieval life and liturgy of this place, perhaps, but both piscina and aumbry in the sanctuary are fascinating. The aumbry retains the fittings for a door frame. The piscina contains a most unusual thing, which cannot be in its original place. It is possibly a former holy water stoup, but Mortlock was convinced it was a rare and uusual pillar piscina. beside it, the drop windowsill once contained sedilia.

There are three grand hatchments at the west end, where the enclosure of the ringers' room beyond the gallery is most effective. There are some fine modern carved bench ends, including a beautiful one of barleycorns. The war memorial is heart-breaking, listing as it does those boys who were formerly singers in the choir. "

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