Church of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This Grade I listed church stands on Rectory Hill in East Bergholt. It is a substantial medieval and early modern parish church substantially rebuilt and restored in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The chancel dates from the 14th century with 15th-century alterations. The north and south chapels were added in the mid-15th century with later modifications. The south aisle is also mid-to-late 15th century, incorporating a 14th-century south door. A datestone on the tower records 1525. The north aisle, clerestory and nave arcades were built around 1530s–40s. The church underwent major restoration in the 1850s–60s, followed by further alterations and additions in the early 20th century by architect T G Jackson.

The church displays Perpendicular Gothic style throughout. The tower is built of brick and flint faced with knapped flint. The north aisle is mainly brick with some septaria and roughly-dressed stone. The south aisle is brick and snapped flint with later stucco (now removed). The clerestory features ashlar. The south porch and chancel are rendered above their plinths. Ashlar dressings are used throughout. The roofs are plain tile.

The plan comprises a west tower with passage through, a five-bay aisled nave, a south porch with parvise, and a two-bay chancel with single-bay chapels to north and south.

The tower is incomplete, raised only to a single stage, with five-sided angle turrets. It has an ashlar plinth decorated with encircled quatrefoils containing shields. Above this is much weathered flushwork. The north and south arches to the passage are wide, with two-centred moulded arches on inner responds featuring continuously moulded jambs under square labels containing encircled quatrefoils with shields and mouchettes to the spandrels. A date plaque above the south arch is now illegible. The passageway retains vault shafts. The west doors have linenfold panelling and enriched central balusters. The west front has 20th-century paired traceried windows and is topped by an 18th-century octagonal bellcote.

The south aisle has a plinth and flush-work band with flushwork buttresses featuring niches and truncated pinnacles. It is lit by Tudor-arched three-light Perpendicular windows. Battlements enriched with carved shields run throughout. The south porch is two storeys high with a domed stair turret to the west. It has a flushwork plinth and diagonal buttresses with niches. A pointed arch with inner order on responds and continuously moulded jambs enriched with shields opens into the porch. The hood-mould is surmounted by a square label with encircled quatrefoils and mouchettes in the spandrels. A single-light window to the parvise is set under a square label. The porch has a parapet.

The north aisle has a plinth and flushwork offset buttresses with brattishing. It is lit by large four-light windows with Perpendicular tracery. A polygonal three-stage stair turret to the east is surmounted by a finial bearing the mullet device of the De Veres, Lords of the village manor of Old Hall from 1425.

The north door features linenfold panelling with a central baluster in a continuously moulded surround enriched with niches and shields. It has a square moulded surround with outer colonettes and decorated spandrels. The clerestory contains three-light segmental-pointed windows with Perpendicular tracery. The chancel and chapels are lit by three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery. The chancel has diagonal buttresses and a five-light east window. Embattled parapets crown the chancel and chapels.

The interior features a nave arcade of two-centred arches on piers of section with four shafts and four hollows, topped by moulded capitals to the shafts. A pointed chancel arch rests on triple responds. The original roofs survive in the south aisle and chancel. The nave roof dates to 1854. The south chapel was reroofed in 1866 and retains angle corbels. An Easter Sepulchre with 15th-century wall painting survives in the chapel.

The church contains several important wall monuments. These include monuments to William Jonar (1636) and Edward Lambe (died 1617), the latter with a niche containing a kneeling figure flanked by angels and surmounted by an entablature with hatchment and obelisks. Early 18th-century marble chest tombs to the Chaplin and Parker families stand in the south chapel. Memorials to Maria Constable, wife of painter John Constable, and to her grandfather Dr Rhudde are also present.