Angel Roof

St. Mary's

During a week in Bury St. Edmunds, singing with the ECS in the Cathedral or Abbey, I also visited St. Mary’s, which I was told has an outstanding angel roof. However, the church was so dark, that had I not known about it, I would not have discovered the beauties high up on the hammer beams. Simon Jenkins in his well-known book “England’s Thousand Best Churches”, grows quite lyrical about St, Mary’s. Fortunately, my camera could see much more than my own eyes, although hand-held and just a fraction bigger than the usual pocket camera. The pictures are not very clear as a result. Here is a selection of the figures on the roof, at the end of the beams.  Only the two angels between the nave and the chancel are coloured. I suppose the others once were, but there was no information about it. There are a king and a queen, figures holding objects connected with the eucharist, like a chalice, and others.

 The two colored angels between nave and chancel

Enlargement

 The King (left) and the Queen?

There are 11 pairs of angels, and lesser angels on the wallplates. They were hard to photograph.
For splendid pictures and an explanation of the angels and what they represent go to the Angel Roof Website of Suffolk.