The "Retable" at Thornham Parva
`What on earth is that`? I hear you say - and me too when I heard the name for the first time. A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structure.
The church at Thornham Parva, which had a rare quality retable, was not too distant, so I decided to visit when in the locality. Its retable is a 15 feet (4.6 m) long and is thought to have been created in the 1330s for a Dominican Priory. It is the largest surviving altarpiece from the English Middle Ages.
This retable survived the iconoclastic reformers of the 16th Century, who destroyed much of England's medieval culture, by being removed from its church. It was discovered in 1927 in a wood pile in a loft at Thornham Hall, belonging to a Suffolk landowner, Lord Henniker. He donated it to St Mary's Church, Thornham Parva, where his brother was parson.
First impression of the church - it is tiny, and it is thatched - tower and all.
The sign near the church
The entrance is through this small Norman doorway on the North side of the church. None of the grand entrance stuff here!
As you enter and look left, this is the view that greets you - it`s so small!.
This is the main reason I chose to visit here - the retable.The retable is only part of a much larger altarpiece that probably once stood in the Priory at Thetford in Norfolk. The rest of the piece can be found in the Musee de Cluny in Paris. It was rescued and hidden after the Anglican Reformation destroyed the priory, along with so many of England’s treasures. Perhaps it was taken by recusant Catholics to use in their devotions. More likely, it was simply rescued because it is beautiful. From left to right, the figures are St Dominic (Thetford was a Dominican Priory); St Catherine; St John the Baptist; St Paul; a rood group of the Blessed Virgin, Christ and St John; St Peter; St Edmund; St Margaret; St Peter Martyr (another Dominican).
The retable dates from the height of the Decorated period, in the decades before the Black Death, so in the period about 1280-1380.
When you enter the church, this 18 c balcony is above your head, apparently there are no others in Suffolk.
As if the retable were not enough, the walls of St Mary are lined with some of Suffolk’s most fascinating wall-paintings. They rank with those at Wissington, and date broadly from the early years of the 14th century, and are in two ranges; on the south wall is the story of the early years of Christ. On the north wall is the martyrdom of St Edmund. This is amazingly rare; fragments survive not far off at Troston, but there is only one other sequence of the martyrdom surviving in the whole of the Kingdom. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to get any good images so will perhaps try another day.
In the churchyard I found the grave to Sir Basil Spence who was famous for, among other things, the new Coventry Cathedral, the commission which made him the best known modern architect in the country for the remainder of his lifetime. Was not sure of his link to this small church, until I discovered that he lived up the road at Yaxley.
A village appears non existent now, this church being one of the last vestiges of a once thriving area. I believe that in 2005 there were only 50 people in the village and the census now includes its population with the next door village. In a way, a bit sad.
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