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
- final-vestry-bittern
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- East Suffolk
- Constituency
- Suffolk Coastal MP: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 16 March 1966
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Mary, the Street, Bawdsey
- OS grid reference
- TM 346 401
- Coordinates
- 52.00985, 1.41797
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Mary is a 14th-century church that was extensively rebuilt after a fire in 1842, caused by fireworks let off from the tower. It is constructed of flint rubble with brick and ashlar dressings, and has a brick and slate roof.
The west tower, originally 90 feet high, was reduced to 60 feet following the fire. The west face has deep diagonal buttresses that rise to the full height of the shortened tower. The ground-floor doorway has a weathered, double-chamfered ashlar surround with a hood mould and brick voussoirs. Above is a three-light window with interlaced tracery featuring cinquefoil heads and daggers. A single-light, now louvred window also sits above, with a cinquefoil head and hood mould. The tower is topped with battlements. The south face is largely blank except for a similar louvred window. The right-hand buttress has been strengthened with 19th-century brickwork. A canted staircase turret is located on the north face. The east face abuts the nave and shows the outline of the former nave roof. A "Sanctus" window opening, now serving as a belfry opening and fitted with louvres, is also present.
After the fire, the nave and chancel were combined within the reduced width of the old nave, incorporating the old aisle arcades into the external walls. These arcades consist of four arches with central octagonal and lateral circular pillars. The infill is a mix of flint rubble and brick, with brickwork to either side of the piers and the top of the wall. The south face has 19th-century Y-tracery windows to the two central arches. A blocked and partially rendered doorway is set into the left arch. The north face is similar, but without the blocked doorway. The east face has a buttress to the left, a brick buttress on the right, and a low central buttress below a two-light window with cinquefoil heads and plate tracery.
Inside, the tower arch is chamfered, with a plastered four-centred arch added in the 19th century. A font with a baluster stem above two steps and a semi-spherical bowl is also present.
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 greater than that of 50% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 14 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 87% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 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
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- 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
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