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Christ
Church, Whittington Christchurch was built by the
Diocesan Architect Richard Phipson at a time when he was
engaged in his two greatest works, the restoration of St
Peter Mancroft in Norwich, and the complete rebuilding of
St Mary le Tower in Ipswich. The construction of this
simple Gothic church must have seemed like light relief.
Whittington is a suburb of the industrial village of
Stoke Ferry, and the increasing population here in the
second half of the Victorian period suggested the need
for a new church, as it did in the centre of Stoke Ferry
itself. The dedication stone on the south side records
that it was Dedicated to the Glory of God and in
memory of the Rev Charles Manners R Norman MA by his
devoted widow Caroline Norman AD 1874.
This
meant that it arrived on the scene rather later
than the Stoke Ferry church. However, All Saints
Stoke Ferry is now closed, while this one is
still open. All things are relative, of
course, and the word 'open' applied to Christ
Church is perhaps not entirely appropriate,
because I have never met anyone who has been able
to walk inside this church unless it was for one
of the minister's services. And, ironically as it
would turn out, we found Christ Church graveyard
cordoned off for dangerous rebuilding work, with
warning notices about safety. But being rather
old-fashioned and a stout-hearted Englishman to
boot, I scorned this anti-litigious approach to
safety, and I squeezed through the security fence
to find the west doors open. The interior of the
church was full of scaffolding, the walls and
tracery run of the mill. Nothing fell on me,
nothing leapt out and wrestled me to the ground.
I won't be suing anybody. I wouldn't have done so
anyway. But I was glad that I had seen it.
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