St Michael’s Church Framlingham | |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Church of England |
Previous denomination | Roman Catholic |
Churchmanship | Broad Church |
Website | http://www.stmichaelsframlingham.org.uk |
History | |
Dedication | Saint Michael |
Specifications | |
Bells | 8 |
Tenor bell weight | 16 long cwt 0 qr 14 lb (1,806 lb or 819 kg) |
Administration | |
Province | Canterbury |
Diocese | St Edmundsbury & Ipswich |
Parish | Framlingham, Suffolk |
Clergy | |
Rector | The Revd Canon Mark Sanders |
Curate(s) | The Revd Mary Lamb, The Revd Michael Womack |
Laity | |
Reader(s) | Terry Gilder, Jean Ellison-Taylor |
Organist/Director of music | Paul Narey |
Churchwarden(s) | Jeremy Schofield |
St Michael's Church in Framlingham, Suffolk is a Church of England church dedicated to Saint Michael. It was the burial site of the Howard family. The church was designated a Grade I listed building in 1966. [1] Currently the Church accepts monetary donations for its maintenance and preservation.
The Church of Saint Michael, Framlingham, has been built, rebuilt, and added to several times since construction. A surviving feature, the capitals of the chancel arch, date from the twelfth century, but the majority of the church was built in the Perpendicular style between 1350 and 1555. The roof is decorated with intricate fan tracery which conceal hammer beams. The roof itself dates from about 1521.
Framlingham was a major seat of the Earls and Dukes of Norfolk. Vast estates of the Norman Bigods were forfeited to Edward I and Framlingham came to Thomas of Brotherton, eldest son of Edward and Margaret of France. After many other changes of inheritance, in about 1635 Sir Robert Hitcham bequeathed the Framlingham estate to Pembroke College, Cambridge, who remain Lords of the Manor to this day. The church contains many noteworthy tombs including that of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and his wife Anne of York.
In June 2024 the Church was broken into and silverware stolen. [2]
The church has a ring of 8 bells from a mixture of founders and date from between the 15th and 20th centuries. The ring was augmented to 8 with addition of 2 new trebles in 1718 cast by John Stephens of Norwich. [3] The bells hang in oak frame made by George Day of Eye, Suffolk dating from 1892. The bells were overhauled by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough in 1990.
Bell | Date | Note | Diameter | Founder | Weight | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
long measure | lb | kg | |||||
Treble | 1718 | E | 26.50 in (67.3 cm) | John Stephens | 4 long cwt 0 qr 18 lb | 466 | 211 |
2nd | 1718 | D# | 28.75 in (73.0 cm) | John Stephens | 4 long cwt 1 qr 6 lb | 482 | 219 |
3rd | 1720 | C# | 30.50 in (77.5 cm) | John Stephens | 5 long cwt 0 qr 20 lb | 580 | 263 |
4th | c1499 | B | 31.50 in (80.0 cm) | Brasyers of Norwich | 5 long cwt 2 qr 5 lb | 621 | 282 |
5th | c1499 | A | 34.00 in (86.4 cm) | Brasyers of Norwich | 6 long cwt 3 qr 18 lb | 774 | 351 |
6th | 1583 | G# | 37.25 in (94.6 cm) | William Brend | 8 long cwt 0 qr 16 lb | 912 | 414 |
7th | 1622 | F# | 42.25 in (107.3 cm) | William & John II Brend | 12 long cwt 1 qr 18 lb | 1,390 | 630 |
Tenor | 1902 | E | 46.88 in (119.1 cm) | Mears & Stainbank | 16 long cwt 0 qr 14 lb | 1,806 | 819 |
One of the most noted features of the church is the world-famous Thamar organ. Only eight large-scale organs in total survived the English Civil War, and only three of those are Thamars. The other examples being in Gloucester Cathedral and St Nicholas's church in the hamlet of Stanford upon Avon, Northamptonshire.
The painted front pipes belong to the Thamar organ first built for the church's patrons, Pembroke College, Cambridge, by Thomas Thamar in 1674 just after the Restoration (celebrated by the hatchment on the south wall); the only other painted pipes of this style are to be found in Gloucester Cathedral. The case is believed to date back to before 1630 (maybe much earlier – 1580 has been mentioned) and some of the pipework may at least pre-date the Commonwealth.
In 1707 the college decided it would like a larger and more up to date organ by Father Smith for their Wren chapel; the Thamar organ came to St. Michael's in 1708 along with its case. It was placed on a gallery where it stayed until 1898. For a period the organ was moved about the church first to the north aisle and then into the chancel until 1970 when the gallery was recovered from the castle and reunited with the organ in its present position under the leadership of Michael Gillingham and with the aid of the Pilgrim Trust.
The organ's history is uncertain. One concerns the famous and historic organ builder John Byfield who worked on the organ during 1740 according to reports in the Ipswich Journal. When Hunter rebuilt the organ in 1898 he used most of Thamar's pipework on the great organ except for the cornet and trumpet which he replaced with a harmonic flute and gamba. The cornet went missing and the trumpet was lost. The swell incorporated at least three eighteenth-century stops.
The organ was restored in 1970 by Bishop and Son of Ipswich. The Thamar organ was restored with no additions or subtractions (apart from a board for bottom C#). The cornet was rediscovered in the Rectory attic and repaired, restored and reconstructed. A very old rank of trumpet pipes was found to replace the lost set. The swell was matched up to complement the great and based on its 18th-century content. The pedal was likewise treated. The Cromorne was introduced by John Budgen of Bishops and is an excellent and versatile addition to the swell organ. A pedal reed was also added. The organ specification is available at the National Pipe Organ Register. [5]
The organ has illustrious associations: Mendelssohn is believed to have given lessons to Caroline Attwood when he visited her elder brother George Attwood, then Rector. Mendelssohn knew George's father, Thomas Attwood, composer and organist of St. Paul's Cathedral and one time pupil of Mozart.
The church contains family burials of the Howard family (mostly moved after the dissolution of Thetford Priory) [6]
Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset (1519–1536), an illegitimate son of Henry VIII by his mistress Elizabeth Blount, is buried in the church in an ornate tomb.
The Duke of Richmond died in 1536 and was originally buried at Thetford Priory. Despite being illegitimately born, the King promoted FitzRoy to high honours and titles as he was, at that time, his only son to survived for more than a few days. In his desire to promote the interests of his family, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk had arranged a betrothal between his daughter Mary and FitzRoy. The couple was married, but due to their young ages did not live together and the consummation of the marriage was prevented by FitzRoy's early death from consumption when he was only 17. The responsibility for FitzRoy's burial was placed upon the Duke of Norfolk by King Henry who seems to have lost interest in his son, once dead. After the dissolution of Thetford, the tomb and its body were brought to Framlingham and Mary FitzRoy was also buried here after her death in December 1557.
The tomb of Thomas Howard stands immediately to the south of the high altar. Archeologically it bears comparison with anything in northern Europe if not perhaps in Italy. The religious representations on Howard's tomb are of the twelve Apostles and some of the oldest Christian saints. On the south side there are St Matthew the Evangelist, St James the Great, St James the Less and St Andrew; on the west St Peter, the Prophet Aaron and St Paul; on the north St Matthias, St Jude Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot (also known as Simon the Canaanite) and St Philip; and on the east St John the Evangelist, Simeon of Jerusalem and St Thomas. These represent the last major display of religious imagery in England before the full weight of Reformation theology made such things impossible.
The design of the tomb is part-French and part-English and it is significant that it was commissioned, not by the Crown, but on behalf of the greatest nobleman in England . It is thought that parts, at least, of this tomb may have been incorporated in another which was at Thetford for Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk victor of Flodden . In turn, this man's father had been John Howard who had died fighting for Richard III at Bosworth and for whom the Norfolk dukedom had been created in the Howard name. It is known that there are two other male bodies interred in the 3rd Duke's tomb and it is an unproven supposition that these are the bodies of his father and grandfather, removed to Framlingham after the dissolution of Thetford Priory.
He himself is buried at St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London, executed there for trying to make a 4th marriage to Mary I Stuart. In their robes of state and resting their heads and feet on emblems connected with their Houses, his wives Mary FitzAlan and Margaret Audley are represented, though only Margaret is buried here. The large space between the effigies is said to have been reserved for Norfolk himself, his third wife, or even Mary, Queen of Scots. The sides are decorated with their heraldic quarterings. It would seem that at some former period there were columns which supported a canopy over the monument which must have rendered it highly magnificent.
In 1842 this vault was opened and found to be empty but for a skull and some ashes. Tradition has it that the inhabitants of the town hid some of their valuables in the monument during the Jacobite rising of 1745 and swept it clean afterwards.
Before his own death in 1614 Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, Surrey's youngest son made arrangements for his father's and mother's remains to be removed to Framlingham and this monument portraying them both to be erected in 1614. The Latin inscription refers to Surrey as being the son of the Second Duke, which is technically correct as after the Battle of Bosworth the Dukedom was rendered extinct and the Second Duke became the First Duke of the new creation.
The tomb chest is not a religious example but rather extolling the virtues of its subjects. His two sons kneel at the foot end. At the head end are Howard's three daughters:
By about 1976 the whole monument was subsiding in the centre and the ends collapsing in on itself. The restoration was entrusted to John Green and the monument was cleaned and restored. It was when it was being cleaned that Mr Green found the dowel holes next to Surrey's calf where there once was a coronet (not worn, since he died in disgrace). A new coronet was made of lead casting with large fish weights for the baubles, the whole thing was then painted, gilded, and placed in position.
The church is one of a number of locations in Framlingham that plays a role in the mystery novel Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz.
The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury, commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey, is located in the town of Tewkesbury in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain, it has "probably the largest and finest Romanesque" crossing tower in England.
Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England, and is the premier non-royal peerage. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes have historically been Catholic, a state of affairs known as recusancy in England.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, KG was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry and was the last known person to have been executed at the insistence of King Henry VIII. His name is usually associated in literature with that of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. Owing largely to the powerful position of his father Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Henry took a prominent part in court life, and served as a soldier both in France and in Scotland. He was a man of reckless temper, which involved him in many quarrels, and finally brought upon him the wrath of the ageing Henry VIII. He was arrested, tried for treason and beheaded on Tower Hill.
John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, also known as Jack of Norfolk,, was an English nobleman, soldier, politician, and the first Howard Duke of Norfolk. He was a close friend and loyal supporter of King Richard III, with whom he was slain at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
Roger Bigod was a Norman knight who travelled to England in the Norman Conquest. He held great power in East Anglia, and five of his descendants were earls of Norfolk. He was also known as Roger Bigot, appearing as such as a witness to the Charter of Liberties of Henry I of England.
Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book and was part of Loes Hundred. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 census and an estimated 4,016 in 2019. Nearby villages include Earl Soham, Kettleburgh, Parham, Saxtead and Sweffling.
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1485 and again from 1489 to 1514, was an English nobleman, soldier and statesman who served four monarchs. He was the eldest son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, by his first wife, Catharina de Moleyns. The Duke was the grandfather of both Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katherine Howard and the great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1513, he led the English to victory over the Scots at the decisive Battle of Flodden, for which he was richly rewarded by King Henry VIII, then away in France.
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was a prominent English politician and nobleman of the Tudor era. He was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were beheaded, and played a major role in the machinations affecting these royal marriages. After falling from favour in 1546, he was stripped of his dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower of London, avoiding execution when Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547.
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk,, was an English nobleman and politician. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I and held many high offices during the earlier part of her reign.
Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of Henry VIII of England and his mistress Elizabeth Blount, and the only child born out of wedlock whom Henry acknowledged. He was the younger half-brother of Mary I, as well as the older half-brother of Elizabeth I and Edward VI. Through his mother, he was the elder half-brother of Elizabeth, George, and Robert Tailboys. His surname means "son of the king" in Norman French.
Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton was an important English aristocrat and courtier. He was suspected throughout his life of being Roman Catholic, and went through periods of royal disfavour, in which his reputation suffered greatly. He was distinguished for learning, artistic culture and his public charities. He built Northumberland House in London and superintended the construction of the fine house of Audley End. He founded and planned several hospitals. Francis Bacon included three of his sayings in his Apophthegms, and chose him as "the learnedest councillor in the kingdom to present to the king his Advancement of Learning." After his death, it was discovered that he had been involved in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.
Thetford Priory is a Cluniac monastic house in Thetford, Norfolk, England. Founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod of Norfolk, Thetford was one of the most important monasteries of East Anglia.
Margaret Howard, Duchess of Norfolk was a 16th-century English noble. She was the sole surviving child of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, and Lady Elizabeth Grey, herself the daughter of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and his wife Margaret Wotton, therefore Margaret was a niece of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk and first cousin of Lady Jane Grey.
Agnes Howard was the second wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Two of King Henry VIII's queens were her step-granddaughters, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. Catherine Howard was placed in the Dowager Duchess's care after her mother's death.
Frances Howard, Countess of Surrey was the second daughter and third child of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, and Elizabeth Trussell. She first married Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and second Thomas Steyning.
Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey was an English heiress who became the first wife of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. She served successively as a lady-in-waiting to two Queen consorts, namely Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV, and later as Lady of the Bedchamber to that Queen's daughter, Elizabeth of York, the wife of King Henry VII. She stood as joint godmother to Princess Margaret Tudor at her baptism.
Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk was an English noblewoman and translator of the English language. The daughter and sole heiress of Henry FitzAlan, 12th Earl of Arundel, she married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. She died as a teenager shortly after the birth of her son, the Catholic model Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel, who lived to unite the FitzAlans and Howards into one dynasty, with Arundel Castle as its seat.
The Fitzalan Chapel is the chancel of the church of St Nicholas in the western grounds of Arundel Castle, in West Sussex, England. Dating to the 14th century, the chancel is used as the private mausoleum of the FitzAlans and later the Howard family.
St Michael and All Angels is a Grade I listed church on the estate of the Duke of Beaufort in the village of Great Badminton, Gloucestershire, England. Attached to the Duke of Beaufort's residence, Badminton House, it is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Gloucester. Although within the grounds of the Badminton Estate, the church is owned, and its upkeep met, by the Badminton's Parochial Church Council, rather than the Ducal estate. There is a smaller church of the same name in the neighbouring hamlet of Little Badminton.
Richard Fulmerston, of Ipswich, Suffolk and Thetford, Norfolk, was an English politician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.