Church of St Botolph is a Grade I listed building in the East Suffolk local planning authority area, England. A Medieval Church.

Church of St Botolph

WRENN ID
shifting-panel-holly
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
East Suffolk
Constituency
Lowestoft MP: Jess Asato (Lab)
Country
England
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Botolph, Lowestoft Road, North Cove
OS grid reference
TM 461 893
Coordinates
52.44699, 1.62102
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St. Botolph is a parish church dating back to the medieval period. The chancel was restored in 1874, and the nave re-floored and re-seated in 1886. The church comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch.

The church is largely constructed of flint rubble, originally plastered, with stone dressings; the tower incorporates a significant amount of brick, featuring brick quoins and window openings. A continuous thatched roof covers the structure. The square, unbuttressed west tower, likely built in the 15th century, has a lancet window on its west side and single-light belfry openings. A later crenellated parapet tops the tower. A quoin on the north-east side of the nave is made of field stones, suggesting the nave fabric may be 11th century or earlier, and that the nave has been heightened and extended westward. A good 12th-century south nave doorway is present, featuring colonnettes to the jambs and three decorative orders to the arch, including chevrons and large nailheads. A simpler 13th-century north doorway is also present, alongside a renewed lancet window built with brick. Other nave windows are from the 15th century, with square heads. The 14th-century south porch has original side windows and a facade of knapped flint, with the gable rebuilt in brick using a lozenge pattern flushwork, probably in the 18th century.

The chancel is two bays; the lower walls likely date to the 12th century, with the remainder rebuilt in the 14th century. It features two-light windows, largely renewed, and a three-light window with reticulated tracery, renewed in the 19th century.

Inside, there is no chancel arch. The nave has a four-bay arch-braced roof, likely from the 15th century; the rafters are ceiled over. The wall posts rest on original wooden corbels carved as heads. The easternmost bay of the roof has a crenellated wallplate. A restored piscina with a cusped ogee arch is present in the chancel, along with an adjacent drop-sill sedilia. A well-preserved early 15th-century octagonal font features a bowl carved alternately with angels bearing shields and with lions; beneath the bowl are heads with headdresses. On the north wall of the nave are three painted biblical texts within circular panels, reportedly dating to the late 17th century, with a fourth panel in the chancel. There are also extensive 14th-century murals on the north and south chancel walls, depicting scenes from the life of Christ. Two late 18th- and early 19th-century wall monuments belong to members of the Farr family, and a hatchment is positioned above the north door of the nave.

Local climate

Church of St Botolph receives an average of 760 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 66% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 73% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 9 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 6 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • No related consent applications matched
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Three Horse Shoes Grade II 56 m
  2. North Cove Hall Grade II* 328 m
  3. Garden House Grade II 669 m
  4. Cottage Farmhouse Grade II 880 m
  5. Barnby War Memorial Grade II 1.3 km
  6. Wade Hall Grade II 1.4 km
  7. Church of All Saints Grade II* 1.7 km
  8. Worlingham Manor Grade II 1.8 km
  9. Ash Farmhouse Grade II 1.8 km
  10. Church of St John the Baptist Grade II* 2.0 km