Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St. John the Baptist is a medieval church with alterations made around 1656 for Thomas Essington of Brightwell Hall, and further restoration in the 19th century. It consists of a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch. The medieval sections are constructed of plastered flint rubble with limestone dressings, while the 17th-century work is in red brick, which may have been plastered. The mid-19th century porch is made of gault brick and features parapet gables. The roofs are covered with plain tiles, and the tower roof is flat behind the parapets.

Several windows date from around 1300, some featuring Y-tracery, with a few blocked for monuments. The east window has three lights with intersecting tracery. The early 14th-century south doorway retains its original boarded door and sanctuary knocker. The tower, built around 1656, was added to the existing walls at the west end of the nave, with its east face supported by giant Tuscan columns. The parapets are adorned with obelisk corner pinnacles, clasping buttresses, and arched recessed belfry openings. Similar obelisk pinnacles are also found at the apex of the east gable and at the base of the east and west end gables.

Inside, there is a fine mid-14th-century font made of limestone, featuring an octagonal bowl with traceried facets and a moulded stem and base, along with a painted cover from around 1656. The octagonal pulpit, made of oak and panelled, dates from the mid-17th century. Notable marble wall tablets commemorate Thomas Essington (died 1651), his sister Anna (died 1660), and Arthur Barnardiston (died 1734). There is also a marble floor slab from the 18th century inscribed "The Barnardistons Vault," along with another slab for Thomas Essington, senior (died 1656), and his daughter Anna (died 1660). Four painted 18th-century escutcheons of the Barnardiston family are displayed on the nave wall.