Church Of St Lawrence

The Church of St. Lawrence is a parish church dating from the 13th and 15th centuries, located in Ilketshall St. Lawrence. The church features a nave, chancel, south porch, and a west tower. The main walls are constructed of rubble flint, with some remnants of old render, and freestone dressings. The nave roof is covered with 20th-century concrete plain tiles, while the chancel has black glazed pantiles. Notably, there are no windows on the north side of the church. The south side has 2-light windows, with pointed arches and cusping in the nave, and curvilinear tracery in the chancel. The east end is faced in 19th-century red brick, featuring a 3-light east window with cusped reticulated tracery. A small early 19th-century vestry, which has a 2-light Gothick window, is accessed from the north doorway in the nave, and there is a blocked doorway near the altar on the north side.

The tower is small and consists of three stages, built from a mix of unknapped and knapped flint, stone, and septaria, with diagonal buttresses that have plain flushwork panels. The parapet is made of red brick and includes flushwork panels. The south porch is constructed from flint and stone, topped with black glazed pantiles and featuring a pointed-arched doorway.

Inside, the church has been mildly Victorianized, with benches, a pulpit, and a lectern all dating from the 19th century. The nave roof is plastered, revealing only a moulded cornice, while the chancel roof, also from the 19th century, shows similarities to that of Leiston. The floors are laid with small old tiles arranged in a pattern of black, cream, and red. There is no chancel arch present. The 15th-century font has a small base, an octagonal shaft, and an octagonal bowl supported by mutilated winged angel heads, with the faces of the bowl decorated with blank shields and a surround of fleurons. In the chancel, there is a large pointed-arched niche in the north wall and four benches with old poppyheads. Additionally, a plain brass memorial to Richard Beetes, who died in 1613, is set into the floor of the tower.