‘Guides to Suffolk Churches Online’ launched on the 50th anniversary of the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Foundation Day (21st December 1972)
The project to assemble all Suffolk church guidebooks online was the brainchild of the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust (SHCT) who are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2023. Suffolk, with Norfolk, has the greatest concentration of mediaeval churches in Europe -indeed the world- and over the years vicars, scholars and enthusiasts have documented the individual stories of these churches. Now for the first time those histories have been painstakingly collected, scanned and uploaded as a new “Guides to Suffolk Churches Online”, hosted by the Trust.
“The churches think it is a fantastic opportunity, that it will bring people into their churches to look around,” said Lynda Aldred, Volunteer Coordinator for the project, and chairman of The Arts Society South East Suffolk. “We’ve got guides which were written by someone who has since died and their families have been contacted and, without question, they say it is wonderful that their memory lies on. Some of the guides are very professional but my favourite guides are the older ones with hand-drawn covers , little staple rust marks, or those that have been typed on a type-writer with a dodgy letter!”
There are already hundreds of Suffolk churches on the website and more will be added, including any denomination of church, chapel or meeting house that has a guide.
“We were conscious that many of these guides have gone out of print and that if we didn’t collect them now an important part of Suffolk ‘s social and architectural history would be lost forever,” explained Geoffrey Probert, Chairman of Suffolk Historic Churches Trust. “We have a great many people to thank- the Church Wardens of the churches up and down Suffolk who gave us their guides, John Vigar who generously shared with us the Suffolk portion of his great collection of guides, Canon Roy Tricker, who has himself written dozens of these guides, allowed us to delve into his boxes, and Simon Knott, cyclist, photographer and raconteur, who let us link to his comprehensive and learned Suffolk churches website.”
Geoffrey stressed that the huge year-long project could not have been achieved without some expert help and inspiration, notably Clive Major of Code.Trix who built the site.
“Last but very much not least, I should to thank Lynda Aldred, who gave so generously of her ingenuity and time in making it all happen” Geoffrey added.
The Guides are available, without charge, on this website: https://shct.org.uk/guides-to-suffolk-churches
