Historic Churches 2018

10 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 25 TH ANNUAL EDITION the larger half-length figures appear to loom over and overwhelm the smaller figures of the apostles. When viewed at eye level, or roof level, the pairing seems completely different: the larger figures are bearing the weight of the roof, are worn down by it and appear much more vulnerable than the free and straight- backed apostles. The larger figures are in fact not larger; they are more bulky perhaps, but also more encumbered. This scheme begs a great many questions which, in the absence of surviving documentation, have no clear answers. Some interesting points, however, arise from the apparent ambiguities in both the content of the scheme and its location on the roof. Making comparisons with surviving images of figures in brass, stone and glass, we can date the roof scheme to the middle years of the 15th century, a period when many churches in East Anglia were being restored or enlarged. It was common for roof levels to be raised and for the new roofs to have decorative figure schemes. Projects of this nature would have involved fundraising campaigns, building committees and the involvement of leading families of the parish. They would have engaged craftsmen from the locality or further afield, according to their finances and the availability of skilled labour. Some of the most skilled teams, associated with the Benedictine abbey at Bury St Edmund’s, would have been familiar with a wide range of imagery, and the literature from which this was derived. We know that a range of devotional and didactic literature was in circulation at this period, available to the clergy and to the literate laity. It included treatises that dealt with the virtues and vices, with preparing for a good death by living a holy life, exhorting congregations to put aside the animal side of nature and look to things spiritual. Some of these treatises painted vivid word pictures translated by carpenters and masons into visual imagery in wood and stone. It is possible then that a building committee at Outwell, or one or two leading parishioners, might have agreed that the new roof needed a didactic scheme that illustrated how men and women from different walks of life and social stations were prey to temptations, and that these temptations could be understood as physical distortions. By contrast, the apostles are now saints and have therefore been purified of the disfigurements of sin. Such a scheme would have been up-to-date with the contemporary literature and would have had much to recommend it both in didactic terms and in its visual impact. Those commissioning such a scheme, novel in itself, could not have known how it would turn out in practice. The fact that it was not repeated elsewhere suggests either that it was a disappointment to those who commissioned it, or that its Details of some of the double figures on the roof posts with an apostle on each, and (from L to R): a tonsured cleric and a demon with St John (Photos: Hugh Harrison) message was too forthright. Perhaps the roof figures reminded parishioners of those around them and their human traits and foibles; and one can see, perhaps, a deliberately playful and enigmatic element in this scheme. We can gain some idea of the impact of the new roof scheme at Outwell from the recently restored roof at St Mary, Beeston-next-Mileham, Norfolk. Here the pale oak is bright, and the impact of the carved figures is clear from floor level. There are figures of angels, saints and clerics, but also of birds and animals. What is now blackened by age and hidden from the naked eye at Outwell would have been visible, perhaps not in every detail but the message of the scheme would have been there for parishioners to see. Were they puzzled, disappointed, outraged? Or was it the case that in fact not all the details were so clear and some of the impact of the scheme, its full message, was blunted? Or were the master carpenters putting their own interpretation on instructions and did the scheme turn out to be either more or less in its impact than the building committee and its backers intended? While the figures of saints and angels in other parts of the church provided comfort and familiarity, the figures on the nave roof remonstrated, challenged, amused and reminded those who viewed them that there was a saint and a sinner in each of them. This is a remarkable, beautifully- executed scheme, in a church full of interesting imagery and artefacts, lovingly supported by a small community. The figures have survived since the 15th century but they are now in grave danger from damage accumulated over the centuries. The Friends of St Clement’s and the church’s parishioners have been working hard over the past decade to raise funds for restoration of the roof, the late medieval stained glass and other aspects of this special place. Further Information For details of The Friends of St Clement’s and how to support their work of caring for the church, see www. stclementsoutwell.org.uk. Photos are reproduced by kind permission of Mike Dixon, Norfolk and of Hugh Harrison, Conservation Consultant, Devon. CLAIRE DAUNTON MA PhD (chgd2@ cam.ac.uk ) is a medieval historian based in Cambridge. Her PhD research at the University of East Anglia examined the patronage and iconography of stained glass in late medieval Norfolk.