Huntingfield St Mary – Porch Wall - a photo on Flickriver

Located on the west side of south wall beneath the tower and used as the main entrance, the wall is decorated with so-called “flushwork”. It is said that Suffolk was conspicuously lacking in stone quarries so many of its churches and houses, were faced with local flint. Flushwork was an attractive device of using stone frameworks filled in with flint to create attractive decorative designs. I was told by two of the wardens that the flint arrived here via Hull. Presumably shipped in from somewhere else?

It is also suggested that the absence of quarry stone in East Anglia is the reason why there are so many round tower churches in the area, as there were no large blocks to form the quoin stones at the corners. Huntingfield’s tower, however, is in the normal rectangular style although you can just about see in the first picture of the series that its corner buttresses are themselves decorated with flint flushwork.

If you zoom onto the front facing stone on the corner, on the left, in the top third you will just about see a faint sundial, with beams radiating out of a darker centre. There's another one further into the porch on the stone, to the right of the door.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Church of England parish church in the village of Huntingfield, south of Halesworth in Suffolk, England. It dates back to the Medieval period, possibly to the 11th century and certainly to the 12th where there is evidence of a window opening in the nave believed to be from that time. The chancel dates to the 13th or 14th centuries. The tower dates back to the 15th century. It is now a grade I listed building. It is noted for its highly decorated ceiling thanks to the Rectors wife at the time and is a masterpiece of Victorian church decoration. Please see accompanying photographs for more details.

There is an active community around the church with organised exhibitions, concerts, plays and regular talks about the church's history. The church is part of the Blyth Valley Team Ministry and also the Benefice of Heveningham with Ubbeston, Huntingfield and Cookley in the Archdeaconry of Suffolk of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

For information on services, please see....
www.blythvalleychurches.org.uk/st-mary-huntingfield

For more information on Suffolk churches please see....
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/huntingfield.htm

Taken on: August 3, 2022

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Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	29mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
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