One website excoriates the Victorians for their 'vandalism' to this church in the mid-19th Century, when the clerestory was added and the floor raised, leaving only one old brass memorial visible through glass. And that huge organ, blocking out windows! (An electronic keyboard is in use when the organ would be de trop.) The pews had been removed during the pandemic, giving Ann an impression of cathedral-like space. The pulpit is stone, not wood as is usual in these parts. At least one of the north aisle pillars leans alarmingly. The scroll commemorates Thomas Smith, the fifth son of the rector, who entered the army aged eighteen the same year that his father died, 1841, his mother having died when he was four years old. He fought in Crimea and India, where he died in 1862 as a Lieut. Colonel. The eldest son of the rector succeeded his father but died at the age of 27. All the 'vandalism' occurred after his death. We liked the church.
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