St Mary Magdalene, Ickleton

In St. Mary Magdalene, the parish church of Ickleton, there is a unique opportunity to see what churches must have looked like in the Medieval Ages [1]. However, there is nothing to signify the extraordinary interior of the church as you approach it from the outside.

Figure 1 - St Mary Magdalene viewed from south

Figure 2 - St Mary Magdalene viewed from west

The church nave is flanked on either side by aisles, which appear to have been constructed in different times. Notable is the central Norman door, which dates from the 13^th century. It is also noteworthy that the southern aisle is considerably wider than the northern aisle. When we go inside, we find out that this section houses the organ.

Figure 3 - St Mary Magdalene broach spire viewed

Another interesting feature is the 14^th century broach spire (reconstructed later in the 20^th century). The features on it are quite eye-catching. There is a very unusual external bell, placed towards the top, at the end of a cantilever beam and covered by a canopy. The bell is reportedly 0.7m in diameter and 250 kg in weight. Only a single bell exists today, but in the past another bell was present symmetrically [2]. Considering that the spire skeleton is made of wood, it is likely that this additional weight from the bell is providing significant stability against wind loads. From simple calculations, it does seem that the bell weight is significant in comparison to the weight of the spire skeleton itself. This may explain why the bell was placed so high up in the mast externally. Its weight may have provided potential stability issues arising in the spire top, which is the most vulnerable area of the spire against high winds [3].

Figure 4 - An illustration of the St Mary Magdalene spire internal skeleton

 A weathervane is visible at the tip of the wooden spire mast, which extends all the way to the top of the transept tower. Here it is scarf jointed to wooden beams, which bear on to the tower. It wasn’t possible to see the construction of this spire but an illustration from the pamphlet provided inside the church reveals its internal construction.

Figure 5 - The northern doorway of the porch. Note the crack on the right

Figure 6 - The crown  of the porch viaduct. Note the tell tales.

Figure 7 - Eastern side of the porch viaduct, showing the tierceron ribs. Note the carved embossings. 

To enter the church, you pass through a 14^th century porch. The porch is a covered tierceron vault with beautifully carved bosses of a placid Christ and an agonising virgin Mary. There are some clear signs of settlement on the northeastern corner of the vault (Figure 5), which has resulted in crack opening at the crown along the diagonal ribs (Figure 6). Also there is cracking where the tierceron ribs meet on the eastern side (Figure 7). It seems as if the response mechanisms which form on the ribs govern the settlement response, and this is quite distinct from the behaviour of a cross vault where Sabouret cracks could form [4].

Figure 8 -The nave of the church, looking west. 


Figure 9 -The Roman nave columns. 

Figure 10 -12th century wall painting depicting St Stephen's martyrdom

Finally, the glorious interior (see Figure 8, retrieved from Wikipedia). The nave is adorned with a beautiful arcade of semi-circular arches resting on cushion capitals of 12^th and 13^th century Norman and Roman columns (see Figure 9). According to the pamphlet, the arches are constructed of alternating blocks of Roman tiles and Barnack stone. I could not identify any particular reasons for this construction practice, except that it may have a created a strong visual effect. However, considering that the arch was typically covered with decorations (see Figure 10), achieving this visual effect is unlikely to have been the objective of masons. It is also noteworthy that in some of the arches, the clay tiles are not present, and the arch is entirely constructed of stone. The alternating red and white colour on the skin of these arches (see Figure 9), is given by the use of different mortars. The red mortar features crushed brick, from where it derives its pinkish hue.

  Figure 11 -12th century wall painting depicting the flagellation of Christ

This brings us to the 12^th century cycle of wall paintings in the northern nave wall, above the arches.These describe a Passion cycle, with scenes from the Last Supper, The Betrayal, The Flagellation (see Figure 11) and Christ Carrying the Cross. Such paintings are extremely rare, and they were revealed only after an arsonist tried to burn the church down on 24 August 1979. It is fascinating that these paintings have survived. According to the pamphlet, this is partially attributable to the technique of ‘true fresco’, where the paint is applied when the plaster is still wet. This ensured durability, but required quick applications of paint and limited the colour palette (note for instance, lack of the colour blue in Figure 11). Therefore another layer of painting was applied once the plaster was dry (Fresco-secco technique  [5])  to complete the finer details (e.g. faces), but this layer has not survived.

REFERENCES
[1] Bradley, Simon, and Nikolaus Pevsner. Cambridgeshire. The Buildings of England. Yale University Press, 2014

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ickleton

[3] Heyman, Jacques. The stone skeleton: structural engineering of masonry architecture. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

[4] Theodossopoulos, Dimitris. "Structural design of high gothic vaulting systems in England." International Journal of Architectural Heritage 2.1 (2008): 1-24.
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresco-secco