RADWINTER RECORDER’S ANNUAL REPORT 2002-2003

No new project has been fully completed during the past year but several are in progress and some are nearing their end

Radwinter Archives
Following the Recorder’s concern that the parish local history records were being kept in far from ideal conditions, the Radwinter Parish Council agreed to convert part of the balcony of the village hall to a muniments centre. This went out to tender and is due for completion later this summer. The task of properly cataloguing the records will then begin and it is proposed to develop a database on Microsoft Access to enable this to be done in a relation way, enabling records to be searched for under a number of criteria.

Radwinter Publications
Following on from the success of the Radwinter Millennium project – a book on Radwinter in 1900, a small team has started on a similar publication covering Radwinter during the Second World War. People living in Radwinter at that time have been identified and will be interviewed. The Radwinter archives, the Public Record Office at Kew and Essex Record Office have all been searched for appropriate documents and these either are or will be researched. A number of photographic images have also been identified.

Rev F.W. Bullock
The Recorder has continued his mammoth project on the life and times of John Frederick Watkinson Bullock, Rector of Radwinter from 1865 to 1916. He was an active participant in the later half of the Oxford Movement and researches are throwing light upon the influence of the Movement in a rural parish.

Radwinter Church Reredos
The Radwinter Church Reredos was last year discovered to be suffering from woodworm and death-watch beetle and was badly in need of conservation. The Radwinter Recorder undertook a fundraising programme and some £9000 were raised. The reredos, which has been described as the finest piece of woodcarving in Essex, was carved around 1510 in Brussels. It was taken to the workshops of Plowden and Smith, the Queen’s conservators, where it has been restored. The conservation process has revealed the full glory of the work for the first time, probably since it was previously restored just before 1800.The reredos will now be reinstalled in Radwinter Church, lower down behind the altar and away from the wall, a major cause of damp penetration in the past. The altar will also be moved forward to further aid viewing.

The Radwinter Recorder had produced a Newsletter featuring the reredos conservation, to be distributed with the invitation to the Radwinter Parish Day, when it is hoped the reredos will be in place. He is also producing on booklet on the reredos, which will go on sale as a contribution to church funds.

The carving is exceedingly fine and contains some most surprising images for a church altarpiece. Some of these are reproduced here and show one of the Three Kings having his pocket picked and the “touching” picture opposite.

The Church Guide will then need to be completely revised to take into account work on the reredos and other changes in the church.

Michael Southgate. Radwinter Local History Recorder
Further information on many of the subjects briefly described here can be found on the Radwinter History Website: www.radwinterhistory.org.uk