More shadows of former things
All Saints, Theddlethorpe is in the remote coastal fringe of Lincolnshire. Many of the churches in this area are relatively unrestored and retain a lot of medieval fittings and furnishings. All Saints Theddlethorpe is about the best. It retains a fifteenth century painted rood screen and two parclose screens dividing the eastern bay of the nave aisles from the rest of the aisle. I will come back to the screens at a later date, as they are an interesting survival from the Marian restoration.
The south chapel contains a refixed stone altar with a medieval mensa and behind it the windowless east wall is pierced with this rather interesting reredos or should I say tabernacle for a reredos. The tabernacle with crocketed canopy appears to be late fourteenth century and fits in nicely in terms of date with the aisle itself. So what did it contain. Well it's not very deep, so my feeling is that it contained a low relief panel, perhaps a large rectangular alabaster of freestone panel. Sadly we will never know.
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