Thornham Parva
Encyclopedia
Thornham Parva is a village and civil parish
in the Mid Suffolk
district of Suffolk
in eastern England
. Located to the north of sister village Thornham Magna
and around five miles south of Diss
, in 2005 its population was 50.
The tiny thatched Saxon church of St Mary's Thornham Parva has early 14th century wall paintings, on the south wall, the early years of Christ and on the north wall, the martyrdom of St Edmund. There is a circular Saxon window as well as the famous Retable.
The Thornham Parva Retable is the largest surviving altar-piece from the English Middle Ages. It survived the reformers of the 16 th Century, who raged against idolatry and destroyed most of England's medieval culture, by being stored in a barn. It was thought worth saving for future building material. It was discovered between the wars in a wood pile in a Suffolk barn belonging to the local landowner, Lord Henniker. He donated it to the tiny thatched Saxon church of Thornham Parva where his brother was parson.
The origins of the retable were a puzzle but the picture itself provided vital clues. The figures pinpointed links with the Dominican Order. At either end are St Dominic and St Peter Martyr, joint patrons of the Dominicans. St Catherine and St Margaret of Antioch were the order's mascots. The Apostles Peter and Paul , who were believed to have spoken to St Dominic, all point towards Dominican interest. The presence of St Edmund means an East Anglian link. John the Baptist's figure might seem more obscure, but medieval donors demanded value for their money and the benefactors of the Dominican Priory at Thetford, John de Warenne and Edmund de Goneville would have expected their name-sakes to be part of the finished painting.
An altar frontal in the Musee de Cluny in Paris once belonged with the Thornham Parva retable, they must have become separated when Henry VIII dissolved the English monasteries in 1538 and Thetford Priory was itself dissolved.
The retable has recently returned to Thornham Parva church following 7 years of restoration by the Cambridge University team at the Hamilton Kerr Institute. Using sturgeon glue, applied with tiny dabs of cotton buds, inch by inch the layers of grime and botched "restoration" was removed to reveal rich gold and glowing autumnal palette of translucent reds, purples and greens which the original artist used.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the Mid Suffolk
Mid Suffolk
Mid Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council is based in Needham Market, and the largest town is Stowmarket.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Eye, Stowmarket urban district, Gipping Rural District, Hartismere Rural District and...
district of Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
in eastern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Located to the north of sister village Thornham Magna
Thornham Magna
Thornham Magna is the sister village of Thornham Parva, about 3.5 miles from Eye, Suffolk and close to the A140 main road from Norwich to Ipswich, the county towns of Norfolk and Suffolk....
and around five miles south of Diss
Diss
Diss is a town in Norfolk, England close to the border with the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk.The town lies in the valley of the River Waveney, around a mere that covers . The mere is up to deep, although there is another of mud, making it one of the deepest natural inland lakes...
, in 2005 its population was 50.
The tiny thatched Saxon church of St Mary's Thornham Parva has early 14th century wall paintings, on the south wall, the early years of Christ and on the north wall, the martyrdom of St Edmund. There is a circular Saxon window as well as the famous Retable.
The Thornham Parva Retable is the largest surviving altar-piece from the English Middle Ages. It survived the reformers of the 16 th Century, who raged against idolatry and destroyed most of England's medieval culture, by being stored in a barn. It was thought worth saving for future building material. It was discovered between the wars in a wood pile in a Suffolk barn belonging to the local landowner, Lord Henniker. He donated it to the tiny thatched Saxon church of Thornham Parva where his brother was parson.
The origins of the retable were a puzzle but the picture itself provided vital clues. The figures pinpointed links with the Dominican Order. At either end are St Dominic and St Peter Martyr, joint patrons of the Dominicans. St Catherine and St Margaret of Antioch were the order's mascots. The Apostles Peter and Paul , who were believed to have spoken to St Dominic, all point towards Dominican interest. The presence of St Edmund means an East Anglian link. John the Baptist's figure might seem more obscure, but medieval donors demanded value for their money and the benefactors of the Dominican Priory at Thetford, John de Warenne and Edmund de Goneville would have expected their name-sakes to be part of the finished painting.
An altar frontal in the Musee de Cluny in Paris once belonged with the Thornham Parva retable, they must have become separated when Henry VIII dissolved the English monasteries in 1538 and Thetford Priory was itself dissolved.
The retable has recently returned to Thornham Parva church following 7 years of restoration by the Cambridge University team at the Hamilton Kerr Institute. Using sturgeon glue, applied with tiny dabs of cotton buds, inch by inch the layers of grime and botched "restoration" was removed to reveal rich gold and glowing autumnal palette of translucent reds, purples and greens which the original artist used.