Holy Trinity, Long Melford, Suffolk
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Holy Trinity, Long Melford, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 9DTRecommended by
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North nave collection of medieval glassArtist, maker and date
15th century school of Norwich glass paintersReason for highlighting
Long Melford has ‘the finest collection of medieval stained glass in Suffolk’ according to Pevsner. This makes it tricky to pick a single window here. Many of the surviving windows were originally in the clerestory. The easier to reach windows in the aisles were all deliberately damaged or destroyed in an act of iconoclasm. The more difficult to reach clerestory windows survived and were later reset in the aisles. The clerestory windows were all given by locals and record their benefaction. Many of the windows were given by John Clopton and feature his relations and notable figures more or less closely connected to Clopton. Clopton was a clothier and sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in the 1450s. He donated liberally to the beautification of Long Melford, contributing much else besides stained glass. He died in 1494.
I love the donor figures of three ‘Justices of the Law’. Only Richard Pigot’s name survives. Richard Pigot was created Sergeant-at-Law by Edward IV in 1464, becoming Judge of the Common Pleas and was King’s Sergeant in 1468. His daughter, Elizabeth, married the son of John Clopton, Walter.
Much other stained glass in this section is fantastic, rare, and unusual in the survivals of medieval glass. The Pietà is an extremely rare survival and is above one of the most popular small pieces of glass here, the highly unusual triple hare head roundel, with shared ears.
Other comments
A large and impressive parish church, one of the so called ‘wool’ churches, chiefly of the fifteenth century. The perpendicular architecture is stunning with its beautiful use of vertical lines. The church lives up to its name and is very long indeed, said to be the longest nave of any parish church in England.
Numerous inscriptions throughout the building give a fascinating insight into the financing and construction of such a great church.
This church wears its wealth throughout. Medieval brasses, carvings, paintings and funerary monuments further enhance how special this church is, providing something for any lover of the later Middle Ages. Though there is a large amount of stained glass remaining this is still a fraction of what there once was. Another extremely rare subject in stained glass is the Lily Crucifix in the Clopton Chapel, one of a mere handful of surviving examples.