All Saints Stoke Ash
We are delighted to be
able to welcome Rev. Adrian Mason to the South Hartismere
Benefice. Adrian will be starting working with us on 1st
September and there will be Benefice service on 3rd September
at Yaxley church to welcome him. All are welcome.
This years Harvest giving will be Shoe Boxes for Romania. Last year
we sent 12 boxes and it would be lovely to see if we can fill many
more this year.
The boxes are given to families for Christmas, and for some are the
only gift they will receive. Please start collecting those "Back to
School" shoe boxes and fill them with pencils, crayons, small toys,
gloves, socks and toiletries.
A leaflet is pinned to the church notice board and Jo or June would
be ha
ppy to talk to you about
it. Phone either 01379 678926 or 01379 678448.
Rev Adrian Mason
Appointed Priest in Charge. Starts in post in September,
Installation is on the 30th August at 7.30pm Weatheringsett.
Rev Jan Fowler can still be contacted at the church office on
01379 788606.
Church Embroidery
Does anyone in either Stoke Ash or Thwaite have experience of, or
an interest in, church embroidery? We would like
to design and make a new altar frontal for All Saints Church and
would like to bring together a small group of people who could give
a few hours and most of all enthusiasm to this project. If you are
intrested, please contact Jo or Averil on 01379 678448.
The village of Stoke Ash consists of houses and farm buildings
on loops of road off the A140 Norwich to Ipswich road, six miles
South of Diss and 16 miles North of Ipswich. The map reference for
the church is NGR TM 115 704. The village lies between the river
Dove, a tributary of the Waveney, and one of the Dove's own
tributaries, in arable farmland. Stoke Ash was a Roman centre and
the A140 a Roman road. Considerable finds of pottery, brooches and
coins alongside the tributary suggest a waterfront settlement, and
there is evidence of Roman industry and agriculture nearby. The
church stands some 180 metres east of the main road, with the
hall site nearby.
The churchyard is bounded by a flint wall to the road boundary and
hedging on the remaining three sides. The churchyard is well
maintained with a mixture of 17th and 18th century monuments and
more modern headstones. Many of these are managed weekly by the
families in the village. The churchyard itself is maintained by two
parishioners who deserve great thanks.
The War memorial stands in the churchyard and acts as a reminder of
the one Stoke Ash soldier who was lost in the war.
The churchyard has a large wildlife conservation area within it and
in the 3 years since its inception has developed a wide range of
flowers and plants. A reciprocal mower is used twice a year to
maintain the flower and wildlife rich environment.
All Saints' has a nave with a South facing
porch , a
chancel and a tower. The three 12thc. doorways,
two in the nave and one on the North side of the
chancel , provide evidence of 12thc.
construction here. The South doorway is protected by a simple
15thc. brick porch and the North nave doorway is blocked, and
all three are completely plain. The flint nave was rebuilt with
diagonal West buttresses and one North buttress, all with flushwork
decoration, c.1400, and most of the windows are Perpendicular too.
The flint chancel is as wide as the nave, though its roof
is not as high, and there is no
chancel arch. There is a three-light 13thc.
window on the North side, which appears to be a replacement, and a
15thc. South window. The flowing East window is by Phipson (1868),
as are the porch windows. The tower is of knapped flint
with diagonal buttresses, 15thc. West doorway and window and
bell-openings in a 14thc. reticulated style. It has a polygonal
South stair and an
embattled parapet with gargoyles below it. The
four bells in the tower are rung by visiting ringers, unfortunately
we have no bell ringers in the Parish at present.
Inside the church there is a modern memorial presented to the
church in 2005 to remember the Airmen from the American air base at
Mendelsham who were based in the area during the second world war.
Memorials in the form of a roll of honour and local information
also is on display in the church of British servicemen from both
World Wars.
There are two regular services a month held at All Saints’, one of
these is a Eucharistic service and the other is a Morning Worship
led by a Lay Elder. There is a family service once a quarter and
the main festivals are celebrated in the usual fashion.
The local primary school has in the past two years joined with the
parish in their formal services and have also held memorial
services. A Flower Festival is held in the church, usually
biannually and this is well supported.
The churchwarden spends many hours gently maintaining our building
but it is in need of some repairs. These are currently under
discussion in the PCC.
The church has no running water or toilet facilities and with
increased use of the church for school services this issue is also
under consideration by the PCC and is being discussed with the
rural dean.
References:
Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Suffolk. Harmondsworth
1961, rev. E. Radcliffe 1975, 437.
The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE
in Britain and Ireland
(www.crsbi.ac.uk)
Stoke Ash Baptist Church was established on June 24th 1805 when
approx. 30 of members from Diss Baptist and other local churches
were set apart to form a new church in the village. Over the last
200 years the work has been maintained by many faithful christians
and is still going strong today.
REGULAR
ACTIVITIES
Sunday
10.45am Morning worship including Junior church at
11.15am
6.30pm
Evening worship
Monday
7.00-8.00pm JunXion Club for children aged 5-11yrs - held
in the club room upstairs at Stoke Ash Baptist Chapel
Tuesday
2.00pm
Ladies meeting
(third week in
month)
7.30pm Prayer and Bible study
See web
site for further information:
www.stokeashbaptist.co.uk
Church office:
The Orchard Studio, Moat Farm, Middlewood Green, Stowmarket IP14
5HG
Telephone:
01449 711121
E-mail:
info@stokeashbaptist.co.uk
St George Thwaite
Hidden away just off the A140, Thwaite is a pleasant little Suffolk
village.
St George, one of only a very few by this name in Suffolk,
whilst not mentioned in the Domesday Book, is nevertheless quite
old. Consisting of the chancel, nave, south porch and a western
turret in place of a tower. There is some attractive carving in the
roof. The pulpit is rather ornately carved, being constructed of
oak and standing quite majestically on a fine pedestal. It has been
said that the design and carving are very similar to Wycliffe’s
famous pulpit at Lutterworth in Leicestershire and comes from
around the same period. The suggestion is that the same monks were
responsible for creating both pulpits! It must surely be by
coincidence that the Dowager Countess who inherited the Thwaite
Estates from her father, Sir Robert Reeve and Canon John Wycliffe,
probably connected with the pulpit design in Thwaite church, both
had ties with Leicester.
Underneath the oak vaulted roof of the church is this ancient stone
sundial which has suffered at the hands its restorers. The
replacement gnomen sticks out like bird's perch from quite the
wrong place (and wrong angle), whilst its correct location just
above has been filled with cement.
The extra circular makings above the 6 am to 6 pm line can never
have caught the sun, and must be related to the original design and
layout of the dial.
This lovely little church is in the process of being made
redundant, but its is hope will be turned into a focus of village
life, thanks to the Diocese and the Thwaite Project
Group.