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Lound church, north Suffolk

Lound is a small village in the north of Suffolk. It is 4.5 miles north of Lowestoft. It is 2 miles from the North Sea coast at Hopton-on-Sea and is on the border with the county of Norfolk. The church is set on its own away from the village, by a roadside of a country lane, surrounded by fields. It is one of the small round tower churches that are largely confined to east Anglia and rare elsewhere. What makes Lound church stand out though is not its exterior even though that is pleasant enough.

D.P Mortlock in ‘The Popular Guide to Suffolk Churches’ ( I haven’t yet found his ‘Unpopular Guide’):

” The door opens to reveal a lovely surprise, a church that glows and glistens with gilt and colour beautifully maintained in the anglo-Catholic tradition’

The interior was transformed in the years immediately prior to the First World War through the work of Ninian Comper (1864-1960) one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects whose artworks included church furnishings and stained glass. There is none of his stained glass here but much else.

Church of St John the Baptist, Lound, Suffolk, England, UK painted gilt rood screen by Ninian Comper c 1914 Virgin Mary with baby Jesus

Church of St John the Baptist, Lound, Suffolk, England, UK painted gilt rood screen by Ninian Comper c 1914 in Lady altar St Elizabeth with the young St John the Baptist, and St Mary Salome with the young St John the Evangelist, flanking the Blessed Virgin and Christ child
Church of St John the Baptist, Lound, Suffolk, England, UK 20th century St Christopher wall painting by Ninian Comper with Comper’s Rolls Royce car and jet aircraft added in 1960s
Church of St John the Baptist, Lound, Suffolk, England, UK gilt carved tabernacle font cover by Ninian Comper c 1913

My 24 photos of Lound are now on www.geogphotos.com

Also in a gallery at www.geographyphotos.com

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