Thornham Parva and Stonham Barns

Tuesday October 12th

Today Alan finally got to see the retable at Thornham Parva church. When we had been here in 2001 we had visited this church and the very famous retable had been removed for conservation. Alan had always said he would revisit it when it was replaced but it has taken him 9 years to get back there. He was not disappointed.
This is a famous 14th century gilded and painted retable that graces the Altar of St Mary’s church and is one of the most miraculous survivals of the art of the English Middle Ages. It is made of painted oak and was the sort of object that would have been found in English churches of all ranks in the Middle Ages and exactly the sort of thing that was destroyed during the English Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries. But this one survived the turmoil largely unscathed. 1n the 1920s it turned up in a stable loft on a Suffolk estate and it now takes pride of place in this little Norman church. There is really interesting stuff about this church at...
http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/thornhamentry.htm


After looking closely at this we had a picnic lunch and then went for a walk in Thornham Park and then went for a walk around part of the park. This had originally been a Tudor Manor House and various other houses over the centuries. However with the death of the 5th Lord Henniker in 1902 the grounds became neglected. Today it is managed by the Suffolk County Council and open to the public to walk freely the only fee being the car park. We picked up the walk guide and visited the Victorian Walled garden which has been developed as an organic apple orchard and offers employment to people with disabilities mental health problems or social disadvantage. There were other interesting things on the walk including a pet cemetery. We also spent quite a bit of time in a hide observing birds feeding at hanging feeders.

After leaving here we went to an interesting place called Stonham Barns which is located on the A1120 at Stonham Aspal, half way between Stowmarket and Framlingham . It is a leisure, shopping and rural pursuits complex. Admission to the main complex and car parking is free although some of the attractions have an admission charge but you can decide which you would like to visit. We didn’t pay to go into anything but had a good browse around. It was a place we had never found or knew about visiting in past visits.

A quiet evening watching TV brought the day to a close.