Church Of St Mary Le Tower

Church of St Mary-le-Tower, 1260 Tower Street

This church of medieval origins was largely rebuilt in the mid-19th century. It was designed by Richard Makilwaine Phipson and constructed between 1850 and 1870, during a period of considerable prosperity in Ipswich. A church is believed to have stood on or near this site since at least the Domesday Book, presumably built close to a tower on the town walls.

The building is constructed of stone and flint with tiled and leaded roofs. The plan comprises a tower above a south entrance, a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, Lady Chapel, vestry and choir vestry.

The most impressive feature is the tower with its recessed spire, which rises to a height of 53.5 metres. It is decorated with chequered flushwork and has paired lancet windows to the upper stage, ornamental openwork parapets, pinnacles and angled buttresses. The north and south aisles feature decorated stone parapets, large buttresses of flint and stone (including angled buttresses at their east and west ends), and tall arched tripartite windows, including one at the west end of each aisle. The nave has a battlemented parapet, a clerestory with round arched windows and chequered flushwork, and a west wall with two buttresses, tall pinnacles and an arched quinpartite window. The chancel has a decorated stone parapet and a west wall with two angled buttresses and an arched quinpartite window flanked on either side by a carved stone niche.

Internally, the church largely dates from the 19th century rebuild but retains important medieval fabric. The nave has five-bay north and south arcades dating from the mid-15th century, while the chancel has a two-bay south arcade dating from the late 15th to mid-16th century. An inner doorway under the tower, which dates from the 13th century, was removed from the previous tower and re-erected in its present position as part of the 19th-century work.

Other notable internal features include a fine 15th-century octagonal font carved with lions, installed during the mid-19th rebuild, and a richly carved oak pulpit of circa 1700 with a staircase and domed sounding board. The chancel contains four 15th and 16th-century monumental brasses set in the centre. There are also 17th-century monuments, including one to William Smart, MP for Ipswich, painted on wood and depicting a panorama of 16th-century Ipswich, and another to Sir Francis Bacon, MP.

The organ was originally built in 1863-4 by Father Henry Willis (1821-1901), one of the most celebrated Victorian organ builders. The choir stalls feature elaborate carvings of the twelve Apostles and twelve angels by Richard Pfeiffer, together with simply carved misericords. The stained glass in the west and east windows is by Clayton and Bell; the west window depicts the descent of Jesus through the kings of Judah and Israel, while the east window shows the Ascension of Christ.

The church has group value with the Grade II* listed 19 Tower Street and the Grade II listed Ipswich Arts Theatre at numbers 13-21 (odd) Tower Street, The White House in Tower Church Yard, 2 and 3 Hatton Court, St Mary-le-Tower Church House in Oak Lane and the garden wall to number 9 Northgate Street.