Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This parish church is largely from the early 14th century and 15th century, with restorations carried out in 1866 and 1870–1873 by Frederick Barnes of Ipswich. The building is constructed of flint and rubble with part rendered surfaces, stone plinth, quoins and other dressings, beneath plain tile roofs. It comprises a west tower, nave, north aisle, south porch and chancel.

The early 14th-century square unbuttressed tower rises in three stages, with the upper stage set back and finished with an embattled brick parapet. The west face is rendered and contains a niche beneath a simple hollow chamfered light. The ringing chamber is encircled by quatrefoil openings with hoodmoulds and label stops on the north, south and west faces. Above each is a bell opening with a trefoil-headed light beneath a moulded hood with worn label stops.

The nave's south wall is rendered and features three windows with 2-light reticulated tracery linked by a continuous impost band. The south doorway is restored. Dating to the 19th century, it displays multiple orders of continuous wave and roll mouldings with a hoodmould featuring figure stops; the moulding runs to a continuous band at cill level of the windows. A medieval door remains. The south porch dates to the early 15th century and was restored in the 19th century. It has a rendered brick base and a gabled timber upper stage with 5-bay timber arcades on each side, the openings having cinquefoil heads. The spandrels are carved with floral and leaf decoration. The entrance arch has a single hollow chamfer to each face, and the inner spandrels also display leaf and rose decoration. An embattled tie beam, remains of a niche with a cusped head, and cusped bargeboards complete the porch.

The north aisle contains three windows with 2-light reticulated and curvilinear tracery. A north doorway has two orders of roll mouldings beneath a hoodmould, with similar bands to those on the south wall. A 2-light west window matches those on the south wall, while a 3-light east window displays curvilinear tracery. The chancel's east wall and 3-light east window with intersecting tracery were restored in 1866. The north wall has one simple lancet, one trefoil-headed light, and a similar light to the south wall. A single hollow chamfered south doorway occupies the south wall.

Interior

The tower arch dates to around 1300 but is largely blocked by a 1980s organ. An encircled quatrefoil sanctus bell opening is present. The nave features a 4-bay arcade of very early 14th-century date with very finely moulded piers and responds. The west and east faces of the piers have capitals with two bands of fleurons and animal heads. On the north and south faces, the pier mouldings run continuously into the arch, creating a semi-stilted form with a figure head boss at the junction. The arches have multiple moulded orders. A 4-bay hammer-beam roof of 15th-century date, restored in the 1870s, is terminated by angels on the hammer-beams, with corbels in the form of faces or foliage. Moulded collars, ridge and side purlins, cornice and frieze complete the roof, the frieze displaying a continuous cusped wave motif.

The north aisle has moulded rear arches to the windows with an impost band on the north and south walls. On the east, this incorporates the head of a niche on each side of the window, terminating in a figure stop at the angle with the arcade. Each niche is trefoil-headed beneath a pointed canopy, crowned to the left by a foliate cluster and to the right by mutilated foliage, with traces of red paint visible. A blocked rood stair doorway and blocked north doorway are evident. The roof has a moulded cornice, purlins and rafters.

An early 14th-century timber parclose screen contains open traceried panels, each light separated by an annulated shaft with moulded base and cap. The tracery employs various mouchette motifs, with a pointed head to the right of the doorway. An ogee-headed archway beneath two encircled quatrefoils is present, with similar treatment to a half-height opening on the south side of the screen. A stepped embattled parapet crowns the screen.

A stone tablet commemorates Edward Cage, twice Bailiff of Ipswich, who died on 9 August 1607, and his third wife (died 1631). William Cage, his son, seven times Bailiff of Ipswich, died on 4 November 1645. The nave and aisle benches include some medieval examples, though the poppy-heads have been replaced and shortened. An octagonal font has four recessed flat panels with an octagonal base, four plain octagonal shafts and one central round stem.

The chancel roof is of 15th-century date with an embattled cornice, whilst the 19th-century roof is a queen-strut, straight-braced collar-rafter construction. A 15th-century screen base displays blind cusped Perpendicular traceried panels. Medieval poppy-head benches are present. Sedilia feature ogee-headed niches on each side at cill level, and a trefoil-headed piscina with a plain drain is also present.