Fring

All Saints’ Church Fring

This church was built about 1300 - 1330, with the tower added about 1350, and it has hardly been altered since. It is very unusual to find a church that so clearly shows the Early English style of building, and having no aisles added later or much obvious Victorian restoration! The south chancel wall has a priest’s doorway built to allow the priest to access the part of the church for which he was responsible. The parishioners paid for the upkeep of the nave. At the west end of the south chancel is a small arch. This was a low side window believed to have been provided for the sexton to ring a bell outside the building to alert people still out in the fields that the important part of the Mass had been reached. On the east side of the entrance to the south porch are two Mass Dials, the upper one very faint. These were simple sundials used to indicate the time of the services. There is another, also somewhat faint, on the west jamb of the priest’s doorway. These dials were in use from Norman times until clocks as we know them came into use in the 14th century.

Perhaps Fring’s

greatest treasures are

its wall-paintings

Perhaps Fring’s greatest treasures are its wall- paintings that give us a tantalising glimpse of what our churches would have looked like in the 14th century. In medieval times all the walls would have been covered with paintings, some just decorative patterns, but also figures of saints, which were covered with lime-wash following the Reformation. The paintings here show exceptionally high quality of work, using expensive colours, blue, green and vermilion, instead of the usual limited range of earth colours, red and yellow ochres. In the South-East corner of the nave are the shadows of several saints. The actual paint has long gone, but some of the colour seeped into the plaster covering the walls, and that is what is now visible. Just to the south of the chancel arch is a stone framed niche containing the outline of a saint with a blue-green background. There is also a painted canopy over two figures, believed to be the Annunciation when the Archangel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would have a child. Around the corner on to the south nave is another saint, thought to be St. John the Evangelist, with a further fragmentary paintings in the reveals of the window. The other painting, in its traditional place opposite the main entrance, is a larger-than-life version of St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child. Sadly most of the Saint’s head and the Child have disappeared. Lower down the body and legs of the Saint are clearly visible, with fish swimming round his feet. These indicate that he was walking through water! The whole is encompassed by a painted frame with a delicate vine pattern. The pinkish background is covered with a stencilled pattern of four red dots. This painting is thought to be slightly later than the ones at the east end of the nave and done by a different, technically less skilled, artist. Much of the under-paint of white lead has discoloured to black, distorting the colours of what can be seen.

Contact Us

Churchwardens Gill Austen John Austen Treasurer Paul Gismondi PCC Secretary Gary Thomas Any enquiries please contact Gill Austen T:  01485 570004

Information

Postcode: PE31 6SE Fring Road Fring