From whichever
direction you approach the centre of Middleton, the graceful
lead-
 covered
needle spire of Holy Trinity Church dominates the scene.
Saint Felix, the first Bishop of Dunwich, brought Christianity to
this part of East Anglia in the 7th century. Middleton at the time
was probably a pagan settlement, and its first Christian church may
well have been a simple structure of timber, clay and thatch.
Possibly the present site was used, and it could have been rebuilt
later by the Anglo Saxons using flint and stone; but no traces of
earlier buildings remain.
The 12th and 13th centuries saw the building developing to that
which is externally recoqnizable today. Internally there have been
many changes over the centuries; not the least caused by a fire in
1955 which destroyed the thatched roof and all the pews.
 Apart
from striking the hour the five ancient bells are silent.
Three were recast in London in 1779, being retuned by sea
through Aldeburgh. Bells were ringing in 1620 when a complaint
was made to the Bishop of Norwich that Fordley bells were
disturbing Middleton worshippers, and vice-versa. As the two
churches were adjacent, this was not so surprising. The Bishop
resolved the problem by ensuring that there was only one
priest for the two churches. Soon afterwards Fordley Church
was demolished, and is lost without trace. It is possible that
the stones on the north side of the chancel, including the
Sarcophagus cover, came from Fordley church.
Church
Services
www.r.ginn.btinternet.co.uk
More
information
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk | |