Angel roof - Holy Trinity - Blythburgh, Suffolk - Wooden Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

Possibly the most impressive feature of the interior of Holy Trinity church, Blythburgh, is the wonderful roof. It decorated with a dozen figures of carved angels, wings outstretched. Magnificent examples of late medieval art. There were originally more, before William Dowsing visited on the morning on April 9th, 1644:

"It was a Tuesday, and he [Dowsing] had spent most of the week in the area. The previous day he'd been at Southwold and Walberswick to the east, but preceded his visit here with one to Blyford, which lies to the west, so he was probably staying overnight at the family home in Laxfield. He found twenty images in stained glass to take to task (a surprisingly small number, given the size of the place) and two hundred more that were inaccessible that morning (probably in the great east window). Three brass inscriptions incurred his wrath (but again, this is curious; there were many more) and he also ordered down the cross on the porch and the cross on the tower. Most significantly of all, he decided the angels in the roof should go.

Lots of Suffolk churches have angels in their roofs. None are like Blythburgh's. You step inside, and there they are, exactly as you've seen them in books and in photographs. They are awesome, breathtaking. There are twelve of them. Perhaps there were once twenty. How would you get them down if ordered to do so? The roof is so high, and the stencilling of IHS symbols would also have to go.

Perhaps this was already indistinct by the time Dowsing visited. Perhaps Tuesday, 9th of April 1644 was a dull day.

Several of the angels are peppered with lead shot. Here is another of those Suffolk legends; that Dowsing and the churchwardens fired muskets at the angels to try and bring them down. But when the angels were restored in the 1970s, the lead shot removed was found to be 18th century; contemporary with them there is a note in the churchwardens accounts that men were paid for shooting jackdaws living inside the building, so that probably explains where the shot came from."

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

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