Uniquely in East Anglia,
Dallinghoo church has its tower at the
east end. Is this because it was built
back to front? Well, no. What you see now
are the remains of a cruciform church
with a central tower. The chancel has
gone, the transepts have gone too. So
just the nave survives, with a tower at
the eastern end rather than the west.
This puts the porch in the right place
after all, and as you step through into
the body of the nave and look east, you
would never notice the difference -
except I do not think I could stand in
that sanctuary without being conscious of
the colossal weight above me.
is bright, neat and thoroughly Anglican.
The chancel in particular is a delight.
It is largely 17th century, and the Holy
Table, chairs and panelling are all of a
piece, even though most have been reused
from elsewhere. It is probably the best
Jacobean chancel in the county, and the
parish are to be congratulated for making
it accessible. They have done so by
bolting everything down and fitting it
with alarms, when it would have been so
much easier just to lock the church.
rails are slighty later; but in any case, you
will have wandered off by now to examine the
amazing 17th century pulpit in the north aisle.
It is the tallest in the county, and dwarfs the
huge reading desk in front of it.
|Carved into its back is a
set of royal arms. Now, you might expect
them to be Jacobean, probably for Charles
I or Charles II, but in fact they are
older, and for Henry VIII. Almost
certainly, this means that the pulpit was
cobbled together using older materials.
in the graveyard are a number of
interesting stones, including one from
the late 17th Century depicting a shovel,
hour glass and pick which must be by the
same mason as the similar one a few miles
off at Burgh.
There is also a very satisfactory
grinning King Death on a nearby stone of
similar date. Even more striking is the
lifesize statue of Hope against the north
boundary. It comemorates the Walford
family, who provided Rectors in the
middle years of the 19th century.