Orford CEVAP School
School Lane,
Orford,
Woodbridge,
Suffolk
Tel:- (44) 01394 450281
Fax:- (44) 01394 450281
Email ad.orford.p@talk21.com

why not have a look at our main website we have a wide range of information about our school.

Links with the Local Church

 Orford School is a Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School, which means that there are very close links between the church and the school.  Such schools aim to be distinctive yet inclusive and welcoming to all in their ethos.  The local Rector visits to lead assembly most weeks and the children come to church for special services at Harvest, Christmas, Easter and the School Leavers' Service in the summer. 

St Bartholomew's 

 Governors

 It also means that the local churches in conjunction with the Diocese appoint a majority of the Governors, who are the employers of the staff.  They act as critical friends, taking an interest in the school and making strategic decisions on areas such as budget, buildings, personnel, school improvement, policies on various matters, etc.

 Rev d David Murdoch, Chairman of Governors

Our school is fortunate to have six churches in our catchment area, they are
St Bartholomew's Orford
All Saints Church Sudbourne
St Botolph’s Iken
St Peters Chillesford
St John the Baptist, Butley
St John the Baptist, Wantisden
 Our vicar Revd David Murdoch hold services at all of these churches.
 

All Saints Church Sudbourne
 
 

The church was completely restored in 1878-9, paid for by Sir Richard Wallace of Sudbourne Hall. The architect was Frederick Barnes, the contractor R S Smith and the stonemason Mr Frewer all of Ipswich. At this time the tower received a new roof and a lead-covered spirelet (known as a Hertfordshire spike).The south porch is now blocked, and you enter through the north one. Both have a pair of shields in the spandrels, one of passion symbols, the other of the Holy Trinity. The Trinity symbol is to the east in both cases.

In 1621 the church is recorded as having a thatched roof. In 1676 the church was rebuilt after a fire. A sketch of the church in 1818 shows that the tower then had a short pyramid cap.

The present church at Sudbourne was built in stone in the 12th century and there is a Norman arch above a blocked doorway in the south wall. The tower appears to have been added in the first half of the 14th century.

At the time of the 1878 restoration, the interior was completely refurbished, with new benches and Minton tiles throughout. Two grand hatchments hang at the west end, a worthy frame for the tall tower arch and Norman font in front. One is to the Devereaux family, the Viscounts of Hereford and one to the Marquesses of Hertford. The heir of the fourth Marquess was Sir Richard Wallace and he in turn bequeathed to the state a considerable art collection, which today is known as 'The Wallace Collection'. Wallace also donated the organ here, in memory of his ancestors.

Up in the sanctuary is a large monument to Sir Michael Stanhope, who died in 1621. According to the inscription he sat at the feet of Elizabeth I for twenty years. In fact, he was a Privy Councillor, both to her and to James I. Now he kneels through all eternity in Sudbourne church. Below him is his wife all in black, and their daughters to front and back. They have been reduced to stumps, and she has lost her hands.


St Botolph’s Iken
 

                                                                                                                   The surviving part of the Iken cross shaft cradled on its side
                                                                                                            close to the spot where Dr West discovered it (author's photograph).

Iken in East Suffolk appears to be the likely site of St Botolph’s original foundation noted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 654, alongside the reference to the death of  King Onna. The later medieval church of ‘St Botulf at Iken’ is built on the highest point of a former island overlooking the Alde estuary across the river from the site of the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Snape. Inside the church, part of a large carved stone cross-shaft can be seen. This was discovered incorporated into the wall of the later tower during excavations in 1977. The shaft formed part of a large decorated stone cross perhaps ten or twelve feet in height, the style of which associates it with an East Mercian sculptural style datable to perhaps the 9th or early 10th century. The thatched roof caught light in 1968 and the nave stood unprotected during much of the next 20 years before the roof was replaced

Inside Iken church, part of a large carved stone cross-shaft can be seen. This wonderful find was discovered incorporated into the wall of the later tower by Dr Stanley West during his excavations at Iken Church in 1977.  The shaft formed the lower part of a large decorated stone cross perhaps ten or twelve feet in height, the style of which associates it with an East Mercian sculptural style datable to perhaps the ninth or early tenth century (see Plunkett & West, A Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Material from Suffolk, pp.328, 344-45). The heads of dogs or wolves are incorporated in the zoomorphic design still recognisable on the cross-shaft. Although these forms are found elsewhere in Mercian sculpture, the fact that the dog or wolf was St Botulf’s emblem in medieval church art suggests that the cross could have been erected here as a memorial to him. Perhaps it was intended as the successor to the cross raised by St Botulf himself in order to exorcise the place of his first minster, said to haunted by marsh-demons, (Folcard's Life of St Botulph, 8)

St Peters Chillesford

       

There are only two churches in the whole of England that have towers built out of coralline crag, and Chillesford is one of them. Wantisden, a mile away, is the other; but the quarry that the crag might have come from is here, beside the church. The height of the church above the road is accentuated by the way the graveyard drops away suddenly towards what is now a roadside pond
From a distance, coralline crag glows with a rich honey colour; but, close up, it is reddish, with the fossils of tiny sea creatures in it.
More mundanely, but certainly more noticeably, this is the only churchyard I know where part of it doubles as a caravan site. This sounds appalling, but it works rather well, actually; it is good to see families around a church, and presumably it generates some much-needed income for the parish.

St John the Baptist, Wantisden

  


Wantisden church is located in fields about half a mile from the nearest road. This is not that unusual in Suffolk, and I can think of a dozen others that are equally remote. It has always been remote, there has never been a village of Wantisden.
The church was enclosed by the military area until the 1950s, when the new perimeter fence cut in and put it outside the base

At the start of the second world war, this whole area was requisitioned by the military, and by 1950, USAF Bentwaters was one of the biggest and busiest military airbases in the world. The site of the cottages is somewhere under the main runway now, the river long-culverted

What makes it remarkable however, is its location. Until the 1930s, there were two little cottages about 400 yards north of the church, by a bend in the little river. They were called Bent Waters Cottages.
However, the only access to it was through the base (the fields were still cordoned off as tank training areas) so anyone who wanted to tend a grave had to have a military escort through the base. At this time, the modern top road didn't exist, and the nearest other road to the church was a mile away
 

The arch and squints. Note the image niche to the north
 

St John the Baptist, Butley

This church has always been rather dark inside, but on my last visit I found it rather darker than usual. This was partly because of the storm brewing outside, but mainly because the rather lovely 19th century east window had been replaced by wooden boards and scaffolding. I'm presuming that this is a temporary arrangement
 

Butley is a fascinating village. The familiar part sits on the top road, and runs more or less on into Chillesford. Part of the village here is actually in Wantisden parish. On the creek below is the less well-known Butley Mills, a collection of 19th century buildings that now house craft centres and workshops. A road leading off the high street is lined with rural council houses, a reminder that this is a working village. It climbs into the woods, where you'll find the remarkable Butley Priory Gatehouse, probably the finest surviving medieval gatehouse in England. It looks like the west end of a cathedral dropped off; its remarkable flushwork is the setting for a bewildering array of shields. It is now a private house.

Apart from these, you'll want to visit the Oyster Inn, for my money one of Suffolk's finest pubs. And then there's the church, of course, which you'll find on the way to the gatehouse.
From the south, St John the Baptist must be one of the county's loveliest sights, mainly because of the way its thatched roof and elegant porch combine. A path leads through from the south-west corner of the wild graveyard; you step through an ancient, beautiful doorway. The porch itself is a fine Tudor red brick one, but the outer hood mould of the doorway is from an earlier porch, and has been reused. It is absolutely gorgeous, and dates from about 1250.As if that was not enough, we then step through another, even older doorway, a Norman doorway of about 1150. This interior doorway retains its original door, although in fact it was moved to be an outer doorway during the 16th century, and only restored to its original position in 1989.
 

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Orford CEVAP School
School Lane,
Orford,
Woodbridge,
Suffolk