Church Micro 1229 - Boxford Traditional Geocache
Church Micro 1229 - Boxford
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
No particular parking area, just find a space along the roadsides.
St Mary is on a rise, near the centre of the village. Like nearby Kersey, it presents its north face to the village, but its grandest aspect is from the south. The north porch, the usual entrance, is perhaps Suffolk's finest 14th century wooden porch, and the oldest part of the external structure. The south porch, however, is one of the county's grandest 15th century affairs, in bright stone. Six elegant niches line the top, flanking a larger seventh. In the spandrils are an angel and the Blessed Virgin, depicting the Annunciation. It is still possible to pick out the Hail Mary inscribed on the angel's banner. Again, as at Kersey, the donors paid for a porch on the less-used side of the building, perhaps because there was already a fine porch to the north, a reminder that these buildings were raised as parish churches, not village ones. Above these porches, the 14th century tower rises, a century older now than the church against it. Perhaps it would have been rebuilt, if the Reformation had not intervened. Still, it is elegant and beautiful, decorated with grotesques, and topped by a little wood and lead spire. This repays another look, since it is bedecked with Perpendicular flying buttresses. The slate sundial below is also attractive. St Mary is open every day to visitors. Whether you enter from the north or the south you step into a bright, clean interior, the light from the clerestory filling the nave and aisles. This is a great barn of light, the only colour coming from the glass of the east window.
If any body would like to add to this series, please do, but could you please let sadexploration know first, so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
zntargvp, raq bs terl zrgny.