A short time ago I was called to a barn conversion in Finchingfield where the customer was reporting having heard a bird ‘flapping around’ in the stove chimney. The stove turned out to be this rather stylish contemporary Scan 83-1 multi-fuel stove. I dismantled the stove as I would do to sweep any stove, first removing all the supporting fire-bricks to drop the primary vermiculite baffle plate and then removing the secondary baffle which sits just above it. Unfortunately, on top of the secondary baffle was a rather large, dead Jackdaw. By the look of him he has been there a good few weeks. I the customer had called us earlier when they first heard the bird in the chimney then we might have been able to remove him alive. I’m guessing that it was a male bird as he was so large.

All this said, I did like the look of the stove, I only sweep a handful of these Scan stoves, but they always have the appearance of having been well designed and put together. I thought too that it looked very good in an old, sensitively renovated property; the juxtaposition of old and contemporary working well together.

Scan Stoves are a Danish company founded in Odense only in 1978. Henning Krog Iversen founded the company Krog Iversen (later Scan A/S) in small premises in Odense. At the time it was quite ground-breaking to produce wood-burning stoves in steel sheet instead of cast iron, and there were not many demands concerning combustion technique and environmental protection. The first wood-burning stoves were no more than “oil drums” with doors, but at Krog Iversen we took pride in producing high-end designed pieces of warm furniture with advanced combustion technique right from the start.

Scan pride themselves on their modern Scandinavian designs and recognizable ‘clean lines’. The company is now owned by the Norwegian stove company Jotul. Obviously Jotul have kept this brand because of their modern, contemporary designs. Whereas many Jotul designs have a very traditional or retro appearance. Clearly the Scan brand gives Jotul a much broader design appeal to a mass market – Jotul sell stoves all over the world.

All Krog Iversen scan stoves can be bought through licensed dealerships in the UK.

https://www.scan-stoves.co.uk/

Here are some more of the wonderful medieval bench ends from the fantastic St John the Baptiste church at Danbury. Three were so many beautiful examples, I just wanted to share some more of them with everyone. There was so much to see at this interesting church, I hope my recent blogs have sparked an interest in people and a desire to visit St John the Baptiste church at Danbury. Enjoy.

This week we are back at the church of St John the Baptiste at Danbury. Here are just a small selection from the many surviving medieval bench ends carvings from the church at Danbury. As can be seen the church of St John the Baptiste at Danbury boasts a wealth of intricately carved medieval bench ends depicting an array of designs, from biblical scenes to mythical creatures. These carvings which date back to the 13^th Century and offer a glimpse into the cultural and religious symbolism of the era. They include a number of recognizable animals like an Owl, Squirrel, lion, and a monkey, along with a number of mythical beasts including gryphons and dragons. They are frequently humorous in the intention and execution, clearly the medieval carvers had a laugh whilst creating them and were not shy in poking fun at the clergy. I would highly recommend a visit to the church of St John the Baptiste at Danbury for all history lovers, there is so much to see, it is a real gem.

The church of St John the Baptiste at Danbury has three very rare oak carved effigies of Norman Crusader Knights which date from the 13^th century. Interestingly, they can be dated with some certainty due to the armour that they are wearing. The two in the North aisle date from between 1272 to 1307, and the one in the south aisle from a little time later. The fact that the knights have crossed legs is indicative that they had been on crusade or less likely that they were church builders. As the last crusade was in 1270, it may be assumed that the effigies represent members of the St Clere family who first endowed the church and were responsible for the rebuilding of the north aisle. Apparently one of the north wall effigies was selected by Nikolaus Pevsner for inclusion in the exhibition of European Gothic Art staged in the Louvre Paris in 1968.

This week’s blog is about another medieval church that we have visited whilst sweeping for the Bishop of Chelmsford, the church at Danbury. In my view it is probably one of the most interesting churches and sites that we have visited in our Essex travels sweeping for the Bishop of Chelmsford. The church has a wealth of historical details and is on a site of much older historical importance. So much so, I will probably spread this visit over a number of blogs, the reason being that there is too much of interest to simply cram into just one blog.

The church is actually located within Danbury Camp a large late Iron Age hill fort which encompasses the top of the hill which is one of the highest points in Essex. The earthwork is constructed with a single ditch and rampart, but it is in a poor state of preservation with much of it having been lost due to erosion over time, and a significant portion has been built over. Archaeological excavations of the site occurred in 1974 and 1977, complemented by smaller investigations spurred by local construction. The minor dig have found little to nothing but the two major ones have uncovered Iron Age artefacts as well as several Saxon items. Notably, these finds included loom weights, pottery shards, and a double-sided Saxon bone comb, suggesting domestic occupation from the 8th to the 10th century. While the re-occupation of Iron Age hill forts was common in southwestern England, it is much rarer in Essex. The reoccupation in the Anglo-Saxon period may possibly be due to people using it as a safe haven from Viking raiders or used by Danish Vikings as a defensive base hence the place name Danbury (Dane Bury).

The church itself is an amazing treasure trove of historical features, so much so I will spreading this across a number of separate blogs dealing specifically with the carved medieval bench ends and the three life-size effigies of crusader knights. The church is dedicated to St John the Baptist. In this blog I will just deal with the fabric of the church. There was probably a wooden Anglo-Saxon church at the site, but it has now disappeared completely. The oldest part of the church is its north aisle, which is thought to have been part of a chapel endowed by the St Clere family in 1290. It is unusual in that it has a barrel-vaulted roof, which is usually a feature in west country churches, not East Anglian churches. There are also fragments of medieval wall paintings above the end window in the north aisle and also in the chancel. The roof bosses in the north aisle represent kings and queens of England, mainly the Edward’s and date to the 14^th Century.

The tower is 14^th Century in date and was erected shortly after the construction of the of the nave and aisles. The tower is built of flint rubble and probably has over a million flint pebbles within its construction. There are pieces of Roman brick/tile that can be found in the lower part of the tower and the lower part of the north wall. The timber framed spire dates to the 15^th century and is roofed with wooden shingles.

One of the more intriguing features of St. John the Baptist Church is its squint, a small aperture in the wall that allowed worshippers to view the altar from a side chapel. This architectural element, also known as a “hagioscope,” was designed to enable those who were unable to be in the main body of the church, such as lepers or penitents, or those who didn’t wish to worship with the main crowd, like the gentry, to still participate in the Mass.

The church suffered bomb damage in 1941 during World war II, which was repaired in the 1950’s.

We are just back from our annual two week spring break in Dorset. As usual we spent the two weeks at West Hembury Farm in Askerswell as the guests of the lovely Charlie and Lucy. We had some fantastic warm sunny weather as well as some sea mist and we managed to do lots of our favourite walks with the dogs. Rodger, Maggie and Millie were particularly tiered by the ned of the holiday. We were also able to catch up with our friend Dom and Rachel as well as Netty Patterson who was staying at West Bay whilst we were there. The photo is of the old Villager stove in Barn Owls Cottage where we were staying.

The picture of the chimney is interesting, as this was taken at Lyscombe where Emma did a heritage project at work for the Dorset Wildlife Trust. We did a walk around around the whole site which the Dorset Wildlife Trust are turning into a nature/history reserve. The site has stunning scenery as well as being historically fascinating. There are numerous earth works including a number of large Neolithic Cross Dykes, numerous Bronze Age Barrows, a Roman period settlement and agricultural enclosures and a disappeared Medieval Village in the bottom of the combe. At the centre of the site there is a thatched Medieval pilgrims chaple and priests house, a disappeared manor house an Medieval barn and stone fish weir. The photo of the chimney is from the ruined Medieval priests house.

Following on from last week’s blog I came across this interesting piece of local chimney folk law relating to withes in the Channel Islands. Built into many old Guernsey cottages and houses you will often notice a curious granite plinth protruding from the Chimney on the inside over the roof ridge. These are said to be “Witches seats”. It was said that on Friday nights at low tide Guernsey witches congregate on Grande Greve to dance back to back across the sands. On such occasions it was wise to have your cottage protected by Witches’ Stones as a witch returning from the coven may wish to take a rest on one of these short chimney ledges. Failing to find one she could well slip down the chimney and take up permanent residence in your house.

Originally built to prevent rain water seeping through the join between the chimney and the thatched roof, these ledges provide a convenient perch for night time flyers, as do the fireplace corbels, supporting stones protruding through the gable wall. Although modern buildings no longer use thatch many of their chimneys still carry Witches’ Seats, just to be on the safe side.

We had some work down in deepest, Darkest Hertfordshire, we were driving between a job in Sawbridgeworth and a job in Little Halingbury when we saw this thatched witch on a roof in the village of Gaston Green. Although we see plenty of animals on thatched roofs, I must admit that I have never seen anything like this before. We just had to stop the van and take a photo.  There is a lot of folk law and mythology attached to thatched rooves and witches. A noticeable feature frequently found on many thatched rooves is a raised sloping end to the ridge of the roof. Myth and folk law has it that these sloping ends are a defence to prevent witches landing on the roof. Other witch defences found on thatched roves around East Anglia include sharp pointed sticks on top of the ridge, in particular at the raised sloping ends of the ridge. Other thatch folk law indicates that it was quite common for people to hide items like coins, clothing, shoes, dead animals or pieces of bread in the thatching in order to ward off witches, evil spirits, and or poverty. These items are thought to act as a talisman to ward off whatever malevolent force was intended be it witches, evil spirits, or poverty. Shoes, for example, were often hidden within the thatch or rafters. This practice, dating back to at least the 18th and 19th centuries, was rooted in the belief that a shoe, being closely connected to the foot, retained a part of the person’s soul. On occasions, mummified cats are found lodged in old chimneys, apparently, the cats were put in chimneys to ward off witches and the evil eye.

 We saw this mobile sauna in the coast car park at Dunwich whilst we were on our February break. I must admit that my initial thought was who is going to be sweeping that chimney. As you can see, the sauna is in an old horse box and has a sauna stove at one end. Whilst we were there, on what was a very cold day with a strong North Easterly wind, we watched people come out of the sauna and run straight in the sea. Absolute madness!

The sauna stove is a Narvi, a Finish based in a place called Turku. The company specialize in making sauna stoves. The company was founded in 1937 by Lake Narvi, the company bears the Finnish Key Flag Symbol, which means that all Narvi sauna heaters are designed and manufactured in Finland with at least 95% of production taking place within the country.

Narvi

Linnankatu 26 44B
20100 Turku, Finland

+358 20 7416 740  export@narvi.fi

This past week, we have had a little break staying away at a cottage close to the Suffolk coast. We stayed in a lovely cozy cottage called Easter Cottage in the Village of Westleton near Dunwich. It was great as both our girls Emma and Katie were able to stay for the weekend as well as our three cockers, Millie, Maggie and Roger. After the weekend they all went home leaving us with the problem child Maggie, who then enjoyed a long beach walk every day! On a couple of occasions only we saw some beautiful Suffolk sunsets. Although it did rain a lot, we did manage to do a lot of walking and also had the time to visit three medieval churches.

We walked to St Peter’s church in Westleton from the holiday cottage. It is grade II* listed, thatched and has exceptionally long nave and chancel. The present church dates from 1340 when the original Anglo-Saxon building was completely rebuilt. The original foundation of the church is linked to the monks of Sibton Priory. The porch is roofed with characteristic East Anglian pantiles. Originally, the church had a tower, but this collapsed during a storm in 1770. The replacement tower was demolished during World War II after it was struck by a bomb and became structurally unsound. Notably the south chancel wall has an early 14^th century triple sedilia and piscina with cinquefoil cusped arches under continuous moulding and circular pillars with broad capitals and bases.

We visited the Grade I listed Frostenden church of All Saints on our return journey from Covehithe. The church with its distinctive tall round tower can be seen for miles. The tower is believed to be one of the oldest in Suffolk potentially dating back to Saxon times. The body of the church dates mainly from the 13^th century. Notably the porch has some old graffiti carved into it, one reading ‘1606’. The floor of the church is a rather uneven pavement, but which is charming by its very nature. The interior is very simple with mostly 20^th century glass.

 We visited Covehithe after a long walk with Maggie on the beach in a constant cold drizzle. The church of St Andrew is almost two churches in one. There are the ruins and tower of the original large 14^th/15^th Century church and nestling within the small, thatched parish church dating to 1672. The oldest fabric in the original large medieval church dates from the 14th century, although most of it is from the 15th century. During the Civil War much of the stained glass was destroyed by the local iconoclast William Dowsing. By the later part of that century the large church was too expensive for the parishioners to maintain, and they were given permission in 1672 to remove the roof and to build a much smaller church within it. This small church is still in use, while the tower and the ruins of the old church are maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust.