Holy Trinity Church,Blythburgh

Holy Trinity is also known as the 'Cathedral of the Marshes' The church underwent a series of disasters. The most dramatic came on 4 August 1577, when a storm hit the area, during morning service lightning hit the church, striking the door, went up the steeple and scorched the timber, and cracked a bell, he falling spire damaged the font and the roof, which wasn't repaired until 1782, destroying the angels on the ceiling, in the west bays. The main door shows marks from the lightning strike, myth say it is marked with the devil's fingerprints, the marks have been associated with the 'Black Shuck' legend. By the late 19th century the church was in such a poor state of repair that the members of congregation were forced to sit under umbrellas when it rained. The holes in the roof were so large that two local men were employed to shoot rooks that began nesting in the rafters . In 1881 a restoration fund was set up to repair of the church. During the restoration holes were found in the wooden rafters and angels, caused by the lead shot from the rook guns . The thirty-six angels, set back to back in pairs on the arched wooden ceiling have been brightly painted in red and green and decorated with foil and gold leaf

Blythburgh Suffolk