Rood Screen - St Mary - Attleborough, Norfolk - Wooden Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

Late 15th century Rood Screen in St Mary's church, Attleborough, the only one in Norfolk to stretch across the nave and both side aisles.

The oak screen is certainly the most valuable medieval one in Norfolk. It retains the greater part of its vaulting, as well as the whole of the parapet of the rood-loft towards the nave. It is the only rood-screen in the county which stretches right across nave and aisles continuously. It is probably the only screen in the country that retains the rood-loft to nave and aisles complete.

The painted figures represent (left to right) St John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven with the Christ Child, St John the Evangelist, (possibly) St Thomas Becket, the Holy Trinity and St Bartholomew. After the Reformation, Biblical texts were painted over the original decoration. The rood loft was overpainted in 1615 when the arms of the 24 Bishoprics of the day were added. The screen was moved to the back of the church in 1845 and restored to its original position in 1931.

Dating from the third quarter of the 15th century, built by one of the Rattcliffe family, it was was placed at the east end of the nave, which separated collegiate from the parochial part of the church.

"In 1842, when the restoration of the church was being considered, an effort was made to get rid of the screen, and it was actually sold to an antique-dealer in Norwich for £40. A faculty was applied for, but instead of it being granted, the Bishop of Norwich asked Professor Willis, a famous Cambridge authority on ecclesiastical architecture, to inspect the screen and report on its condition. This report was found as recently as October 1930, in one of the church chests. Professor Willis says : "I feel most strongly that it would be a great reproach to the county to which it belongs and a serious loss and damage to our ecclesiastical antiquities if this most interesting work was removed from its proper and original site.” "

SOURCE - Journal of the British Archaeological Association, Second Series, Volume 37, 1931-1932. - Article; The Screen in St. Mary’s Church, Attleborough, Norfolk. Pages: 184-189

Approximate age of artefact (Year): 1475 Times available for viewing: Daytime hours Entrance fee (if applicable), local currency: 0 Relevant website: Not listed

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