Visit to St Clement’s Church, Outwell

As the Rose Fair preparations prevent us using St Peters Hall we visited the parish church at Outwell. Our Chairman gave us an illustrated talk and pointed out some of the newly discovered treasures.
Two years ago Dr Clare Daunton visited the church to look at the mediaeval stained glass including the only known representation of Balthazar and some highly coloured images of saints. Whilst looking round Clare notice some unusual double carvings at the bases of the hammer beams. There are twelve carvings each with two figures; the smaller figures at the front are identifiable as apostles and saints but the larger figures which tower over them are intriguingly “normal” people although they have claws for hands. There are recognisable characters: a monk, a merchant, a lady and others. The carvings are covered in a black, Victorian wood preservative and nobody knows how Clare managed to see them. As a result the Friends of St Clements has been set up and a grant from English Heritage/National Lottery has been agreed to restore the roof and preserve the carvings.
Not only are there these unusual carvings, there are more than two hundred carved angels, some are red with gold wings, some are carved oak and there are carved symbols and decorations along the roof edges in the aisles and in the side chapels. The Beaupré Chapel contains a monument that is carved with a detailed family history ensuring that the daughter of the last man to bear the surname Beaupré can prove her lineage.
There is a fifteenth century wooden chest with seven locks that was originally made in Prussia before being used to transport goods to the Hanseatic Port of Kings Lynn – there are about a hundred of these chests known, nearly all of them in churches or colleges in the eastern counties. The iron work was added as security so that several key holders needed to be present before the chest could be opened.
The lectern is an eagle made of latten and is also from the fifteenth century and there is a seventeenth century collection box made of wood on a pillar – there are carved faces on three of the box sides: one boy, one girl and twins. There has been a lot of debate as to whether it was to be used by families or mothers on the occasion of the churching service six weeks after birth or is it just an elaborate alms box?
The church is a treasure house and many of its features have survived changes in doctrine and liturgy that saw images being destroyed wholesale.
The evening concluded with members looking round the church and having coffee and cake in the Beaupré Chapel.
[Brian Jones]