Churches Visited and Revisited (17/12/16 to Date) – Book 21
CHURCHES VISITED AND REVISITED (17/12/16 TO DATE) – BOOK 21 SATURDAY 13th JANUARY 2018 - 2 - St Paul’s, St Pauls Road, Clacton-on-Sea House at 16 Russell Road, Clacton-on-Sea Brethren Meeting House, Weeley - 3 - SATURDAY 2nd FERUARY 2018 St Andrew’s, Rushmere St Andrew, Ipswich Here we are right on the edge of the Ipswich urban area, but this church appears to have a village setting, looking out across the fields. Rushmere is rather a genteel suburb, with big houses set back from the street and a large duck pond, quite unlike busy Kesgrave with its Anglican and Catholic churches to the south. From the look of it, you wouldn't think that St Andrew serves an Anglican parish of more than 10,000 people. Most of the people in the parish are in the housing estates of north-east Ipswich, but despite its rural setting this building is fully equipped to serve them, as we will see inside. There was a rather dull, though necessary, 19th century rebuilding here; only the late medieval tower and Norman south doorway are old. Local architect Edward Hakewill's work was something of an emergency, a result of the strain placed on the walls by Perpendicular windows at the time the tower was built. Hakewill's work is notorious in Suffolk for its dour, dark interiors and low north aisles. In fact, Rushmere was Hakewill's home parish, so he pulled a few more of the stops out here; and in any case, things have happened since Hakewill's day.
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