DATA BASE REF: C/S 1006
THE CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS SUTTON
Sutton Church was built as a Chapel-of-Ease to Castor in 1120. It was originally dedicated to St Giles, but the dedication was changed to St Michael & All Angels some time after 1528.
The Church originally consisted of a simple Nave and Chancel. It was enlarged in c1170 when the original South wall was removed, the two Norman arches erected and the South Aisle (14) added.
The Chantry Chapel (which now contains the Vestry and organ) was added about 1225.
The Piscina (7) for the chantry altar is still in situ.
The South Door (now not used) was the main door, until the North Door was put in about 1300, at the same time as the West Window and the Bellcote. Note part of the external West Wall of the church is thicker, presumably to support the Bell Cote, (13 )which contains one bell dating from 1867, made by J Warner & Sons of London. There were two bells until the early 1900s.
The Clerestory. Further rebuilding took place in the 15th Century, when the nave walls were raised, the three clerestory windows high up in the Nave were put in, and the roof replaced with a higher, flatter roof.
The Chancel and the South Aisle were extensively restored in 1865-1868.
The Octagonal Font (2) dates from the 13th Century, and is mounted on 8 polygonal shafts.
The Chancel Arch (8) has capitals decorated with Norman interlace work, and the masks of two “Green Men”. The Responds date from 1120 and are like those at neighbouring Upton Church. The bases of the Chancel arch columns have indented ornament similar to that of Castor.
The Piscina in the Chancel, with its trefoil canopy, is late 13th Century.
The Bench End (4), beside the South Door consists of a lion with its tail curved over his back. This is probably part of a portal similar to the Portal of the Friar’s Door at Ely Cathedral – 12th Century.
The Windows
North Wall of Nave – three late 15th Century windows.
West Window – 13th Century
The Clerestory – three 15th Century windows.
Chancel – North Wall at the East End, a small, ogee-leaded light 14th Century with a 19th Century stained glass of St Michael by Kemp.
Chancel – North Wall at the West End, a 15th Century square leaded window with two unique foiled lights and a transom with an internal rebate for a frame.
Chantry Chapel – a very small lancet in the East Wall, and two coupled lancets in the South Wall.
The Organ (15), although not that old, is unusual. It was made by J Walker in 1855, and was removed from Waldingfield Church Suffolk, and placed here in 1886. It includes an early Victorian barrel organ.
The Memorials. Most of the memorials are to the Hopkinson family who lived in the Manor House (The Grange) next to the Church from about 1700 to 1997.
The Church, originally a Chapel-of-Ease of Castor became a parish church in its own right in 1861. It is still part of the Benefice of Castor with Sutton and Upton with Marholm and shares its parish priest (The Rector) with the other parishes.
Services are held here on the first Sunday of the month at 8am, and on the third Sunday of the month at 11.45am. Every year there is also Harvest Festival evensong on the Sunday nearest to the Festival of St Michael & All Angels (Michaelmass – 29 September) and a Christmas Carol Service.
The Patronal Banner was worked by ladies of the parish in 1985, and depicts St Michael and the Dragon.
The Altar Frontal was commissioned by the Parish in 2000, to celebrate the Millennium, and was made by Jane Marriott who lived in the village at the time.