Norman (or Romanesque) Architecture in St Mary's
We know that Great Bradley church was built between 1071 (11th Century) & 1150 (12th Century) in the Norman style. The period after The Norman conquest is known as the Middle Ages or Mediaeval Period and is roughly assumed to last up to the 15th Century. In Great Bradley this must have been a period of great change. Apart from the windows (which are later) the Norman Church would have looked similar to the picture above. The plan of the church, a painting of which is hung in the south porch, shows that the chancel (the area in front of the altar) shows that the Norman structure comprises the current nave (the main part of the church) and some of the chancel (the area in front of the altar). The original Norman church would have been longer than it is now but was shortened in the early 14th Century. The magnificent tower is also 14th century. The most impressive Norman features are the north & south doors (excluding the south porch, which is 16th century). The north doorway (facing the road) is plainer than the south, which is similar to the Prior’s doorway at Ely Cathedral (and to a similar door in nearby Kirtling church). The base of the Chancel Arch is Norman but the main part of the arch is probably 14th Century.
St Mary’s has a nave with N and S doorways and a S porch, a chancel and a W tower. The nave is Romanesque; both doorways are 12thc., as are the jambs of the chancel arch, but the arch itself is later and steeply pointed. The nave windows have all been replaced; one on the N is 16thc., the rest are 19thc.
The S porch is an attractive brick construction with a crow-stepped gable and niches, dating from the 16thc.. The chancel, and the upper part of the chancel arch, are early 14thc. judging from the S chancel doorway and the form of the windows. The W tower is perhaps 14thc. too, and has angle buttresses and a spiral stair turret at its SE corner. It was heavily modified in the 16thc., however, and the W doorway, the flushwork on the plinth, the bell-openings and the battlements on the main parapet and the taller stair turret parapet must date from the later period. Externally the tower is mortar rendered, as is the entire church except for the S nave wall (of flint) and the E chancel wall (of flint with brick diagonal buttresses and decorative banding) and the S porch of red brick.
Of the Romanesque work, the N doorway is plain in comparison with the S, which is modelled either on the Prior’s doorway at Ely, or on the copy at nearby Kirtling (Cambs).
The S porch is an attractive brick construction with a crow-stepped gable and niches, dating from the 16thc.. The chancel, and the upper part of the chancel arch, are early 14thc. judging from the S chancel doorway and the form of the windows. The W tower is perhaps 14thc. too, and has angle buttresses and a spiral stair turret at its SE corner. It was heavily modified in the 16thc., however, and the W doorway, the flushwork on the plinth, the bell-openings and the battlements on the main parapet and the taller stair turret parapet must date from the later period. Externally the tower is mortar rendered, as is the entire church except for the S nave wall (of flint) and the E chancel wall (of flint with brick diagonal buttresses and decorative banding) and the S porch of red brick.
Of the Romanesque work, the N doorway is plain in comparison with the S, which is modelled either on the Prior’s doorway at Ely, or on the copy at nearby Kirtling (Cambs).
Great and Little Bradley comprised three holdings in 1086. St Edmund’s abbey held one, consisting of two parcels of 60 acres held from the abbey by a total of 12 free men. Richard fitzGilbert held a second holding, and four free men, Wulfwine, Leofric, Leofwine and Bondi from him. The third was Robert de Tosny’s demesne holding of 7 carucates, held before the Conquest by Thegn Ulf. This is assumed to be Great Bradley, and included a church with 15 acres of free land. Robert de Tosny was a collateral of Ralph (of Kirtling) and Roger. At his death his holdings passed to his male heirs Berengar, William and Geoffrey, but all died without heirs, and the estates passed to Roger’s daughters, one of whom, Adelisa, married Roger Bigod. The manor thus came to the Bigods by marriage, and was still in their hands in the later 13thc.
The church is now within the Stourhead benefice, i.e. Barnardiston, Great and Little Bradley, Great and Little Thurlow, Great and Little Wratting and Kedington churches
The church is now within the Stourhead benefice, i.e. Barnardiston, Great and Little Bradley, Great and Little Thurlow, Great and Little Wratting and Kedington churches
NORTH NAVE DOORWAY
Round headed, of two orders with tympanum.
Dimensions:
- height of opening (ignoring modern step) 2.40 m
- thickness of lintel 0.21 m
- total height of tympanum and lintel 0.84 m
- width of opening 1.17 m
1st order
Plain, square jambs supporting a plain lintel and a tympanum that has been mortar rendered. The lintel has cracked through vertically towards its W end, and the upper part of the shorter western section has been lost and repaired with flints and mortar; the repair extending onto the tympanum. A modern light fitting has been attached to the tympanum.
2nd order
Detached en-delit nook-shafts on tall roll/hollow bases supporting cushion capitals. The E capital is a plain cushion with a square necking; the W has a fluted bell. Imposts are chamfered with a quirk at the top of the chamfer. The arch has an angle roll and face hollow. There is no label.
Dimensions:
- height of opening (ignoring modern step) 2.40 m
- thickness of lintel 0.21 m
- total height of tympanum and lintel 0.84 m
- width of opening 1.17 m
1st order
Plain, square jambs supporting a plain lintel and a tympanum that has been mortar rendered. The lintel has cracked through vertically towards its W end, and the upper part of the shorter western section has been lost and repaired with flints and mortar; the repair extending onto the tympanum. A modern light fitting has been attached to the tympanum.
2nd order
Detached en-delit nook-shafts on tall roll/hollow bases supporting cushion capitals. The E capital is a plain cushion with a square necking; the W has a fluted bell. Imposts are chamfered with a quirk at the top of the chamfer. The arch has an angle roll and face hollow. There is no label.
South Nave Doorway
Round headed, of two orders with tympanum.
Dimensions:
- height of lintel 0.265 m
- height of opening (ignoring modern step) 2.55 m
- thickness of lintel 0.18 m
- total height of tympanum and lintel (radius) 0.88 m
- width of opening 1.11 m
First order
The jambs are plain and square-sectioned up to the top course, which has corbels with projecting human heads, facing across the doorway and turned slightly towards a viewer in the porch. Both heads are carried on thick, horizontal, columnar necks carved with bands representing the collar of the tunic, as at Ely Cathedral but not at Kirtling. As at Ely and Kirtling, one head is clean-shaven while the other is bearded, but their positions are here reversed. The W head is youthful and clean-shaven with bulging almond eyes under ridges for brows. The mouth is small, full-lipped and slightly open; a left ear only is shown, and the hair is indicated by a double row of elongated beading. Originally the angle of the block formed the nose, which ran down from the junction of the brows, but the nose is worn away now. The E head is similar, but with a short, striated jawline beard and a long moustache, curving up at the ends. There is no hair in the centre of the crown, indicating balding, and tufts at the sides shown as clusters of beading. A right ear only is shown. The corbels carry a heavy lintel, carved with a gable in relief on its front face, and this supports a segmental arch of ashlar voussoirs, infilled with flints in mortar. The arc outside the segmental arch is also filled with flints.
Dimensions:
- height of lintel 0.265 m
- height of opening (ignoring modern step) 2.55 m
- thickness of lintel 0.18 m
- total height of tympanum and lintel (radius) 0.88 m
- width of opening 1.11 m
First order
The jambs are plain and square-sectioned up to the top course, which has corbels with projecting human heads, facing across the doorway and turned slightly towards a viewer in the porch. Both heads are carried on thick, horizontal, columnar necks carved with bands representing the collar of the tunic, as at Ely Cathedral but not at Kirtling. As at Ely and Kirtling, one head is clean-shaven while the other is bearded, but their positions are here reversed. The W head is youthful and clean-shaven with bulging almond eyes under ridges for brows. The mouth is small, full-lipped and slightly open; a left ear only is shown, and the hair is indicated by a double row of elongated beading. Originally the angle of the block formed the nose, which ran down from the junction of the brows, but the nose is worn away now. The E head is similar, but with a short, striated jawline beard and a long moustache, curving up at the ends. There is no hair in the centre of the crown, indicating balding, and tufts at the sides shown as clusters of beading. A right ear only is shown. The corbels carry a heavy lintel, carved with a gable in relief on its front face, and this supports a segmental arch of ashlar voussoirs, infilled with flints in mortar. The arc outside the segmental arch is also filled with flints.
Second Order
CHANCEL ARCH
Of single order, pointed. Only the jambs are original, and they are plain and unmoulded with hollow-chamfered imposts with an angle roll. The imposts have both been cut away on the nave wall side and the western parts under the arch soffit, presumably for a screen. The later (14th C (?)) arch is chamfered on both faces, and height has been gained by springing it from well above the 12th C. (Norman) imposts at the base.
Comparisons with Ely Cathedral and Kirtling
The attempts to represent the collar of the tunic on the S doorway corbels indicate that the heads were copied directly from the Prior’s doorway at Ely and not from the copy at Kirtling. The capitals have not of the richness of their Ely counterparts, but they are at least foliate, unlike those at Kirtling. The stepped chevron of the arch is another Ely motif; appearing on the arches of the chapel entrances in the SW transept. The N doorway uses the angle roll and face hollow arch moulding familiar from the nave of Ely cathedral, and a parallel for the cushion capital with fluted bell can be found in the Ely nave clerestorey arcade. A date in the 1130s is suggested for the work at Great Bradley.
This information comes from CRSBI site. For more information see http://www.crsbi.ac.uk