Simon Knott
@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social
'dust in the air suspended,
marks the place where a story ended'
Find me at http://www.simonknott.co.uk
Also available on X/Twitter. All photos mine.
marks the place where a story ended'
Find me at http://www.simonknott.co.uk
Also available on X/Twitter. All photos mine.
2/2 The wooden vaulting of the nave roof at Chester Cathedral, also for #Woodensday. Perhaps not the most exciting of England's medieval cathedrals, but pleasant and interesting enough.
November 26, 2025 at 4:46 PM
2/2 The wooden vaulting of the nave roof at Chester Cathedral, also for #Woodensday. Perhaps not the most exciting of England's medieval cathedrals, but pleasant and interesting enough.
Cheek to cheek. A c1390 misericord in Chester Cathedral for #Woodensday.
November 26, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Cheek to cheek. A c1390 misericord in Chester Cathedral for #Woodensday.
Quite! It DOES, however, appear in the carvings of the Ely Lady Chapel, albeit fragmentary, where the south range is based on the narrative of Pseudo-Matthew. I don't have a photograph of it myself, but here it is in Jonathan Rogers' book about the carvings, with the text.
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Quite! It DOES, however, appear in the carvings of the Ely Lady Chapel, albeit fragmentary, where the south range is based on the narrative of Pseudo-Matthew. I don't have a photograph of it myself, but here it is in Jonathan Rogers' book about the carvings, with the text.
2/2 Here's the whole window. Birkin Haward thought it 'Heaton, Butler & Bayne at their dullest commercial', which is perhaps a little unfair. The workshop was past its best by 1900, but there is far worse by them, including some in this church!
Dereham: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/derehamnicho...
Dereham: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/derehamnicho...
November 26, 2025 at 9:40 AM
2/2 Here's the whole window. Birkin Haward thought it 'Heaton, Butler & Bayne at their dullest commercial', which is perhaps a little unfair. The workshop was past its best by 1900, but there is far worse by them, including some in this church!
Dereham: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/derehamnicho...
Dereham: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/derehamnicho...
The poet William Cowper was born #OTD 26 November 1731. His dog Beau and his hares Tiney and Puss in his memorial window at Dereham, Norfolk.
'Old Tiney, surliest of his kind,
Who, nursed with tender care,
And to domesticate bounds confined,
Was still a wild jack-hare.'
More: tinyurl.com/bdz8dvvv
'Old Tiney, surliest of his kind,
Who, nursed with tender care,
And to domesticate bounds confined,
Was still a wild jack-hare.'
More: tinyurl.com/bdz8dvvv
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 AM
The poet William Cowper was born #OTD 26 November 1731. His dog Beau and his hares Tiney and Puss in his memorial window at Dereham, Norfolk.
'Old Tiney, surliest of his kind,
Who, nursed with tender care,
And to domesticate bounds confined,
Was still a wild jack-hare.'
More: tinyurl.com/bdz8dvvv
'Old Tiney, surliest of his kind,
Who, nursed with tender care,
And to domesticate bounds confined,
Was still a wild jack-hare.'
More: tinyurl.com/bdz8dvvv
One last St Catherine on her feast day, a 16C Flemish roundel now in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow. At her feet is the Emperor Maxentius, who ordered his pagan philosophers to convince her out of her Christianity. Unfortunately for him she converted them all, and so he put 200 of them to death.
November 25, 2025 at 9:05 AM
One last St Catherine on her feast day, a 16C Flemish roundel now in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow. At her feet is the Emperor Maxentius, who ordered his pagan philosophers to convince her out of her Christianity. Unfortunately for him she converted them all, and so he put 200 of them to death.
3/3 St Catherine's wheel and the cross of St Andrew, by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens, 1958, in St Catherine's chapel at the church of St Andrew, Plymouth. Today's the feast of St Catherine.
November 25, 2025 at 8:43 AM
3/3 St Catherine's wheel and the cross of St Andrew, by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens, 1958, in St Catherine's chapel at the church of St Andrew, Plymouth. Today's the feast of St Catherine.
2/3 St Catherine with her wheel and a martyr's palm in the lovely little church at Corringham, Essex, by Faith Craft, 1958. Likely to be to the design of Francis Stephens or Laurence King.
November 25, 2025 at 8:37 AM
2/3 St Catherine with her wheel and a martyr's palm in the lovely little church at Corringham, Essex, by Faith Craft, 1958. Likely to be to the design of Francis Stephens or Laurence King.
On her feast day, St Catherine of Alexandria with her spiked wheel and sword in glass by Harry Stammers, 1965, in the lady chapel of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. 1/3
November 25, 2025 at 8:31 AM
On her feast day, St Catherine of Alexandria with her spiked wheel and sword in glass by Harry Stammers, 1965, in the lady chapel of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. 1/3
3/3 St Catherine holds a sword and a broken wheel on the Battle Hall Retable, made for Dartford Priory c1410 and now in Leeds Castle, Kent. Her legend was probably conflated with other early virgin martyrs, but she was one of the fourteen medieval Holy Helpers invoked against diseases.
November 25, 2025 at 8:10 AM
3/3 St Catherine holds a sword and a broken wheel on the Battle Hall Retable, made for Dartford Priory c1410 and now in Leeds Castle, Kent. Her legend was probably conflated with other early virgin martyrs, but she was one of the fourteen medieval Holy Helpers invoked against diseases.
2/3 St Catherine holds her wheel and a sword in an early 16th Century Flemish devotional statue now in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow. She's recorded as a martyr in Alexandria during the Maxentius Persecution c305, aged about 17. She's the patron saint of single women.
November 25, 2025 at 7:59 AM
2/3 St Catherine holds her wheel and a sword in an early 16th Century Flemish devotional statue now in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow. She's recorded as a martyr in Alexandria during the Maxentius Persecution c305, aged about 17. She's the patron saint of single women.
Today's the feast of St Catherine, one of the most popular of all saints in English medieval church art. Here she is, leaning on her wheel, on the war-damaged 15th Century font at Nettlestead, one of Suffolk's loveliest little churches.
Nettlestead: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/nettlestead....
Nettlestead: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/nettlestead....
November 25, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Today's the feast of St Catherine, one of the most popular of all saints in English medieval church art. Here she is, leaning on her wheel, on the war-damaged 15th Century font at Nettlestead, one of Suffolk's loveliest little churches.
Nettlestead: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/nettlestead....
Nettlestead: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/nettlestead....
It's a month today until the first day of Christmas! It'll soon be time to think of John the Baptist pointing the way. Here he is by Ninian Comper, c1930, at St James Episcopal church, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, a few miles from Comper's home city of Aberdeen (Douglas Strachan's home city too).
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 AM
It's a month today until the first day of Christmas! It'll soon be time to think of John the Baptist pointing the way. Here he is by Ninian Comper, c1930, at St James Episcopal church, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, a few miles from Comper's home city of Aberdeen (Douglas Strachan's home city too).
The Pelican in her Piety, plucking her breast to feed her chicks on her own blood, in the east window at Debden, Essex, by Gibbs & Howard, 1882. This metaphoric symbol for eucharistic sacrifice was popular in the late medieval period, and it was popular in the 19th Century too.
November 24, 2025 at 6:53 PM
The Pelican in her Piety, plucking her breast to feed her chicks on her own blood, in the east window at Debden, Essex, by Gibbs & Howard, 1882. This metaphoric symbol for eucharistic sacrifice was popular in the late medieval period, and it was popular in the 19th Century too.
3/3 Daniel and St John the Baptist in 1850s tiling by William Butterfield at his All Saints, Margaret Street, London. John the Baptist points to the Lamb of God, the beginning of Advent now only a few days away.
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 AM
3/3 Daniel and St John the Baptist in 1850s tiling by William Butterfield at his All Saints, Margaret Street, London. John the Baptist points to the Lamb of God, the beginning of Advent now only a few days away.
2/3 Samuel and Daniel, two figures from a good collection of 15th Century Norwich glass at Bale, Norfolk. Most of it was installed here in 1938, and probably came from elsewhere originally.
Bale: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/bale/bale.htm
Bale: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/bale/bale.htm
November 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM
2/3 Samuel and Daniel, two figures from a good collection of 15th Century Norwich glass at Bale, Norfolk. Most of it was installed here in 1938, and probably came from elsewhere originally.
Bale: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/bale/bale.htm
Bale: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/bale/bale.htm
Daniel the prophet. One of several panels from a 14th Century Tree of Jesse, reset in the north aisle at Lowick, Northamptonshire. They predate the late medieval rebuilding of the church, and may even have been brought here from elsewhere.
November 24, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Daniel the prophet. One of several panels from a 14th Century Tree of Jesse, reset in the north aisle at Lowick, Northamptonshire. They predate the late medieval rebuilding of the church, and may even have been brought here from elsewhere.
3/3 The intervention of angels. The lions are warded off from the kneeling Daniel in glass by Hardman & Co, 1872 in St Michael, Trinity Street, Cambridge, redundant since the 1980s and now the Michaelhouse café/restaurant, though a small chapel is also maintained.
November 24, 2025 at 9:35 AM
3/3 The intervention of angels. The lions are warded off from the kneeling Daniel in glass by Hardman & Co, 1872 in St Michael, Trinity Street, Cambridge, redundant since the 1980s and now the Michaelhouse café/restaurant, though a small chapel is also maintained.
2/3 a detail of Daniel in the Lions' Den, by Alfred Lusson of Paris, 1860, in the north nave aisle of Ely Cathedral. The lions cosy up to his feet like large cats, though there's clear evidence that they aren't always so friendly to their guests.
November 24, 2025 at 9:29 AM
2/3 a detail of Daniel in the Lions' Den, by Alfred Lusson of Paris, 1860, in the north nave aisle of Ely Cathedral. The lions cosy up to his feet like large cats, though there's clear evidence that they aren't always so friendly to their guests.
This is the final week of the liturgical year, and appropriately the first readings at Mass are from the Book of Daniel, that great OT drama that prefigures the Apocalypse. Alfred Lusson's 1860 glass in Ely Cathedral, Daniel brought before Darius and imprisoned in the lions' den.
November 24, 2025 at 9:23 AM
This is the final week of the liturgical year, and appropriately the first readings at Mass are from the Book of Daniel, that great OT drama that prefigures the Apocalypse. Alfred Lusson's 1860 glass in Ely Cathedral, Daniel brought before Darius and imprisoned in the lions' den.
I realise I forgot to give the CCT website address if you want to check for opening times! It's currently showing as open daily except Mondays, 11 till 3, though there's a phone number too just to make sure: www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/our-ch...
Barham church is open every day (see photo)
Barham church is open every day (see photo)
November 24, 2025 at 8:22 AM
I realise I forgot to give the CCT website address if you want to check for opening times! It's currently showing as open daily except Mondays, 11 till 3, though there's a phone number too just to make sure: www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/our-ch...
Barham church is open every day (see photo)
Barham church is open every day (see photo)
2/2: 'In memory of the men of Claydon who died in the war of 1939-1945'
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
#MemorialsMonday
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
#MemorialsMonday
November 24, 2025 at 8:13 AM
2/2: 'In memory of the men of Claydon who died in the war of 1939-1945'
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
#MemorialsMonday
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
#MemorialsMonday
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
November 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
November 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
A detail of Henry Moore's Claydon war memorial, now in Barham church.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
2/2 Barham and Claydon churches, Suffolk. Both usually open every day, though check the CCT website for Claydon, just to make sure.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
November 24, 2025 at 7:51 AM
2/2 Barham and Claydon churches, Suffolk. Both usually open every day, though check the CCT website for Claydon, just to make sure.
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm
Barham: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barham.htm
Claydon: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/claydon.htm