Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed building in the East Suffolk local planning authority area, England. First listed on 16 March 1966. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Mary
- WRENN ID
- silver-foundation-holly
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- East Suffolk
- Constituency
- Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP: Patrick Spencer (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 16 March 1966
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Mary, Church Lane, Swilland
- OS grid reference
- TM 187 529
- Coordinates
- 52.13171, 1.19521
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St. Mary is a medieval church with alterations from the early 16th century, early 19th century, and 1897. It consists of a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch. The walls of the nave and chancel are made of flint rubble, mostly plastered, with limestone dressings. The east end was rebuilt before 1855 and features a limestone east window designed in the 14th-century style. The roofs are covered with concrete plain tiles.
The south doorway, dating from the 12th century, has an arch with four orders and typical restored enrichment, along with two orders of shafts, although only the cushion capitals and bases remain. There is a two-light south window from the 14th century with wide inner splays, likely an enlarged 12th-century window. The church also has two early 14th-century one-light windows and a simple blocked north doorway. The nave roof, dating around 1500, is of the hammerbeam type, featuring arch-braced high collars and king-posts. The easternmost truss has a moulded rood-beam instead of hammerbeams, and there is no chancel arch. The chancel has a ceiled canted roof.
The tower was added in the early 16th century and is made of red brick, featuring diaper patterning in burnt headers and limestone quoins. It has prominent buttresses and a stair turret. The west doorway is well-moulded with a square label and a coat of arms in the spandrels, and it retains its original oak plank door with linen fold carving and some enriched battening. Above the doorway is a three-light west window. The belfry stage was added in 1897 and features a prominent timber-framed and brick-nogged gabled roof with dormer belfry windows and a copper-clad spire. A timber-framed gabled porch was also added around 1900.
Inside, there is a finely carved octagonal pulpit from around 1600 and richly carved wooden Arms of Queen Anne on the south wall. Three nave windows contain stained glass figures from around 1880. The altar reredos, dating from the late 19th century, features carved and gilded figures of saints and angels.
Local climate
Church of St Mary sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 96% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 63% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 22 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 77% of listed buildings. Of these, 11 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.
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