What to see:   Outside   Inside   Floorplan    Photos

Notes taken from a leaflet compiled by Roy Tricker in 1985

Our church is normally kept open for the benefit of visitors. Please note that all valuables are locked away in a vault at the bank!
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The St Mary's Parish Church stands at the heart of the village. It is an interesting and distinctive building with an atmosphere of rusticity and great age, with much of beauty and antiquity. Like most ancient churches, it has grown and altered over the years. Some of the milestones in its long history are as follows:-

AD 1086 - The Domesday Book records the existence of a church here.

The late 1100s - The internal shafts of the east window; also probably the core of the present nave and chancel.

c. 1200 - The Early English 'lancet' window in the south well of the chancel.

c. 1300 - The other chancel windows, also a general restoration of the church, towards the end of which the tower was built.

c. 1320 - The south aisle was added. Its doorway and two eastern windows date from this time.

15th Century - The three-light window in the aisle, the north nave window, the nave roof, font. chancel stalls and screen. The tower received its parapet (money was left in 1472 to "emend" the tower).

c. 1500 - The south aisle was encased in Tudor brick. The north doorway was placed in the chancel.

1801 and 1846 - David Elish Davy visited the church. He tells us that at that time the Communion Table was neither raised on a step nor railed off. Some of the old oak benches remained and the screen retained traces of its mediaeval gilding and colouring. By 1846 some deal pews had been erected on the north side. The roof was at that time almost hidden by a plaster ceiling.

1810 -  Most of the west wall of the nave was rebuilt with brick.

1857 -  The church received a major restoration, in which the plaster ceilings were removed, the ancient roofs repaired, a new west window was inserted, the chancel floor was raised, the benches and stalls were restored and new benches were added where necessary, also a new pulpit, reading-desk and altar rails were made.  The architects for this work were Phipson & Morgan and the work was done by Henry Ringham, the remarkable Ipswich woodcarver, who was an expert at restoring benches etc. on mediaeval lines and whose work may be seen in several Suffolk churches.

1885 -  The tower was restored and its parapet received its pinnacles and figures (which it would have possessed originally).

1950 -  The south chapel was formed in the south aisle by the Walton family.