Hidden gem

Think of medieval England’s finest gems, and castles probably come to mind first. But the country has another type of treasure that few people know about: angel roofs. Built between 1395 and the English Reformation of the mid-1500s, these roofs are decorated with intricately carved wooden angels. Only 170 survive today. Because so little of the art from England’s medieval churches survived the Reformation, that still makes these cherubim “the largest surviving body of major English medieval wood sculpture”, writes photographer and expert Michael Rimmer in his book The Angel Roofs of East Anglia: Unseen Masterpieces of the Middle Ages.

But the roofs remain seen by few; even those who visit the churches don’t always catch their details. “Distance and lighting make it hard to appreciate the detail of angel roofs with the naked eye, or even with binoculars. Were they as accessible and visible as, say, the Renaissance paintings in Italian churches, I think the best of them would be just as highly celebrated,” Rimmer writes. (Credit: Michael Rimmer)