Nelson Street, King's Lynn

click photo to enlarge

Nelson Street, King's Lynn, shown in today's photograph, was formerly called Lath Street, a name recalled in Lath Mansions, a building that was a merchant's house and which is now divided into flats. Re-naming of the road took place after a British fleet under Horatio Nelson won a famous victory over a combined fleet of the French and Spanish navies at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson was a Norfolk man who was born at Burnham Thorpe only twenty five miles north east of King's Lynn. For anyone interested in architectural history the story of the street's name, fascinating though it is, definitely comes second to the sequence of buildings that line each side.

Nelson Street is only 166 yards (150 metres) long yet it has a total of 26 buildings (either as individual structures or in groups) and a length of garden wall that have been Listed as being of architectural or historic importance. These span the years from the medieval period right up to the nineteenth century and include relatively humble dwellings as well as the fine Georgian town houses of wealthy merchants. Quite a few are buildings that have been modified as succeeding centuries tried to bring them up to date. The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner describes the sequence of Nelson Street, St Margaret's Place and Queen Street as "one of the most satisfying Georgian promenades in England." He's right (though I'd add King Street to his sequence), and so, rather than describe the architectural riches at great length I invite you, courtesy of Google Street View, to take that "promenade" yourself. Don't forget to look left and right as well as up and down as you make your way through the narrow streets.

Google Street View - Nelson Street, St Margaret's Place, Queen Street, King Street.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 65mm
 F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Snettisham church

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When I visit a church that I haven't been to before I frequently read its description in "Pevsner". The county-based volumes of The Buildings of England are usually known by their main author's name, and his pen-portraits of a town or village's parish church, which is invariably the first entry for each place, prepares one for what is to come.

However, when I visited Snettisham in Norfolk a couple of days ago I hadn't done my usual research, and was surprised by what I found. Like a number of village churches, St Mary's is in splendid isolation a couple of hundred yards from the settlement. This gives the visitor a wonderful view of the building, unencumbered by surrounding houses - that was the first unexpected, and pleasant, surprise. The church is very big, with rich architectural details on the exterior, particularly the magnificent 6-light west window, the unusual, vaulted, tripartite porch below, and the soaring spire connected to its tower by pinnacles with flying buttresses. They were the second surprise. The interior, considering the special nature of what was outside, was something of a disappointment - relatively spare, with a few gems (pulpit, lectern, sanctus bell, a couple of memorials), and mediocre glass, especially the 1969 window by Paul Jefferies that has the "cartoon" character that I've discussed recently. The biggest surprise, however, was the absence of a chancel. An east window had been fitted into a wall that filled the tower arch that formerly led into the missing eastward extension, and the high altar was below it: this absence has truncated what was a cruciform church into one that has a "T" shaped plan. Most odd, and most unfortunate. Apparently, in the late C16 Sir Wymond Carye had the chancel demolished. To add to the indignity, in 1915 a Zeppelin dropped bombs which further damaged the walls erected in its place.

Put all that together and you'll gather that to the avid church-visitor Snettisham is something of an oddity. In fact, it looks more like one of South Lincolnshire's churches than a Norfolk building, and Pevsner's description of it being "perhaps the most exciting C14...parish church in Norfolk", loses some of its force when you remember that the county isn't rich in work of that period. St Mary's does, however, have a powerful presence, and coming upon it for the first time, on its slight rise, amongst its green fields and swaying trees, I was momentarily reminded of Constable's painting of Salisbury Cathedral. Consequently, in addition to a few "architectural" shots, I took a few "landscape" images that placed the building off-centre, balanced by trees, with a verdant foreground.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 21mm (42mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Picturing Swaton church

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"In counties less rich in ecclesiastical architecture Swaton would be outstanding."
The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, (2nd Ed 1989) Nikolaus Pevsner & John Harris, revised by Nicholas Antram

"One of the lesser-known marvels of Lincs., magnificent and cruciform with central tower and enormous Decorated traceried windows; the nave arcades soar upward - with nave and aisles under single roof. A most distinguished looking church."
John Betjeman's Guide to English Parish Churches (1958 & 1993) John Betjeman, new material, Nigel Kerr

"What did Swaton do to deserve this aristocrat of a parish church?"
England's Thousand Best Churches (1999) Simon Jenkins

Well, given that build-up, and looking at my late afternoon photograph of what appears to be a fairly unexceptional church, you can be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. However, with the end of its nave right up against the road, and hemmed in on both sides, St Michael at Swaton, Lincolnshire, is notoriously difficult to do justice to with a single photograph. This shot, from slightly south of east doesn't display the magnificent fourteenth century reticulated windows of the west of the building, the embattled nave and aisles, the lovely proportions and arrangement of parts, or, of course, the almost cathedral-like effect of the high and wide interior. In fact my image really does sell the church short! On the other hand it illustrates its context, and shows the sylvan churchyard setting, most of which, apart from small areas close to the entrance, is allowed to grow quite wild. It's a building that presents a real challenge to the photographer and I shall return with the intention of capturing something of its distinctive character when the trees have shed their leaves.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (22mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On