Having been to Embleton I drove on to Newton – so why has it taken me so long to blog about it? My apologies to all my readers. St Mary the Virgin (NU239248) is a tin chapel on the road that leads down to the beach – for some reason, I didn’t walk down and have a paddle … I’ve never been very good at having a paddle. St Mary’s Haven looks rather lovely – I must go and explore. The church has a website – http://www.stmaryschurch.info/ – they did well to get that domain name.
I know the tin tabernacle that is now the Railway Mission in Bury St Edmunds – http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/burytin.htm – this one was erected at the end of the Nineteenth Century. Regular evening services were held here in the late 1890s, it was licensed for Communion and Baptisms in 1902, and for many years it was used as the Church and Village Hall. The pews are like those on trams, and could be turned so you could face front (for religion) or back (for the WI).
In 1998 the Reredos and Lectern Fall embroidery were designed and created by Patricia Winskell of Newcastle. The design of the reredos expresses the name of the church and its location. At the centre is the Light of the World, God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus with Mary in the loving, caring, nurturing and protecting character of the Mother of Jesus. The sweeping curved shapes represent the arms of Mary blending into the shape of St Mary’s Haven and the sea. Boat sails are caught in the power of the wind and wave and overhead there fly twelve seagulls and two angels.
The Maurice Blair Memorial Window was designed and made by Ray Coomber of Bristol – dedicated in 2006.
Finally, another picture of the outside – rather a lovely spot.
