All Saints, Bale

Bale was once known for an enormous oak tree that stood to the west of the parish church. As big as a Bale Oak, was the common expression, but the oak has now gone, removed in 1869 when it became unsafe. It was said to be forty feet in circumference, and must have quite dwarfed the little church beside it. A grove of ilexes was planted to replace it, and there they are today. We are in one of those small, attractive villages huddled in the rolling landscape between Holt and Walsingham, not so very far from Binham either, but this is a quietly agricultural place that probably gets on with its own business without too much interference from the modern world.

The tower and chancel were likely more or less complete before the pestilences arrived in the middle decades of the 14th Century. When things got going again, the nave was rebuilt and a single transept as at nearby Hunworth was added, albeit on the north side here. The same century brought the font with its bold panels including the Instruments of the Passion. Pevsner thought it severely recut, but the font at nearby Field Dalling is so similar in style if not in subject that they may well be by the same mason, and Pevsner thought that the one there was drastically recut. I don't think the similarity is due to recutting.

The 19th Century restoration here was at the hands of Frederick Preedy, who was busy in this part of Norfolk. Preedy didn't often go in for bold extravaganzas unless the money was there, as at Gunthorpe for instance. His work here reminds me more of his restoration at Kettlestone, a few miles off, being quietly effective but, if I am honest, a bit gloomy. And that might be it, except that in 1938 a fine collection of 14th and 15th Century glass by Norwich workshops was set in one of the large windows on the south side of the nave.

A curiosity is that the collection contains part of no fewer than five Annunciation scenes, the angel Gabriel appearing to the Blessed Virgin. The three main lights are topped by angels, and each light features three panels, one above the other. Reading across from left to right, the top row features the finest Annunciation scene. Gabriel on the left is a sturdy figure in green and white robes with brown feathered wings. He appears to be carrying a sword, and his scroll begins Maria Plena ('Mary, full' (of Grace)). Mary in in the middle panel is standing, wearing a gorgeous red dress with lilies, a rosary tied around her waist. She is holding the scriptures, and her scroll begins Ecce Ancilla ('behold the handmaiden' (of the Lord)). The left hand panel depicts St Philip, possibly a cut-down figure, holding a book. The next row begins with two angels in the left hand panel, one playing a lute and the other making a gesture with his hands. In the central panel are Samuel and Daniel from the Old Testament, holding scrolls with lines from the Books. Two more angels appear in the right hand panel.

The most memorable single figure here is that of the Blessed Virgin in the first panel of the bottom row. She stands at a prayer desk, a pot of lilies at her feet, while the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove flies full force towards her. The middle panel is a collection of fragments, a faceless but apparently female saint carries a crozier (St Etheldreda perhaps?) while behind is what may be Catherine's wheel, and part of a crucifixion scene. The final panel has another Blessed Virgin from an Annunciation scene, broadly similar to that in the first panel on this row. The two minor lights at the top of the central main light contain a full Annunciation scene, Mary in a blue dress kneeling at her prayer desk, Gabriel with feathered legs in a red robe. The two minor lights to the left feature part of another Annunciation scene, Mary alone reading at her prayer desk. The other figure, however, is St James the Less. The minor lights to the right feature two angels. Mortlock points out that the shield at the bottom is that of Thomas Wilby, who was Lord of the Manor here in the 15th Century, so it seems likely that at least some of this glass came from this church.

Another survival of Preedy's restoration is the St Christopher on the north wall, and some large consecration crosses on the east wall of the transept. Also memorable is the royal arms, for although it is repainted and relettered for George I, the date on the legend at the bottom is 1698, which is to say during the reign of William III.

Simon Knott, May 2022

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