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St Peter,
Forncett St Peter
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The
Forncetts are a group of workaday villages that
run in to each other to the north-west of Long
Stratton. When I first wrote about the church for
this site it was kept locked all of the time; but
nowadays it is open during the day from April to
September, and there is also a keyholder notice,
for which the parish is to be congratulated. In a sense,
Forncett St Peter's previously locked status was
not as much of a problem as it might have been
elsewhere, for the best thing about St Peter is
its exterior, specifically the great Saxon round
tower, complete almost to the top, and probably
the best Saxon round tower in England. Only the
parapet is relatively modern. There is a
magnificent north porch with the symbols of St
Peter and St Paul, perhaps indicating the
medieval dedication of the church. The church has
aisles, and after nearby Long Stratton is
probably the biggest round towered church in the
county. Unusually, there is a west door into the
tower.
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The church
is set far back from the road in a huge, delightfully
overgrown graveyard. The setting is just about perfect,
and inevitably stepping inside will be an anticlimax. At
the time of my visit in 2006 the interior appeared
well-kept and well-used, if a little gloomy. This is a
late medieval building which underwent a substantial and
relatively early Victorian restoration, and what we see
today is an 1850s vision of what the medieval church
might have been like.
Best of
all are the bench ends, one of several Victorian sets in
East Anglia that replicate the 15th century style so
perfectly that at first it is difficult to tell that they
are not old after all. I wondered if they might be the
work of Ipswich woodcarver Henry Ringham, who was active
at this time and did a lot of work in the Norwich
Diocese. Several of them are obviously intended to be
parts of series - the Seven Deadly Sins, the Seven Works
of Mercy, the Labours of the Months, and so on. Lust and
Avarice are notable members of the first series, and the
Works of Mercy bench ends include Sheltering the Homeless
and Comforting the Dying. There are also several pairs of
Saints, all apparently Disciples.
The
window by Frederick Oliphant of St Peter and St
Paul dates from the 1850s restoration, and there
is a later and more sentimental depiction of the
Presentation in the Temple which is very good. A
curiosity is the naive window depicting Christ
with the children. The chancel is plain and
simple and rather lovely. There are a couple of
medieval survivals. Apart from the font, there
are two brass inscriptions to members of the
Barter family, and a large late-15th century
alabaster tombchest with two incised figures on
top, which Pevnser tells us was to Thomas Drake
and his wife. When I was last out this
way I found the neighbouring church of Forncett
St Mary abandoned, and rapidly going to ruin. But
local people have worked hard to restore it, and
ensure its survival, and you can now visit both
medieval Forncett churches for the first time in
a generation, which of course is splendid news.
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Simon Knott, November 2006, updated
September 2010
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