Church of St Clare is a Grade II* listed building in the West Suffolk local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 July 1955. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Clare
- WRENN ID
- stony-cinder-rowan
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- West Suffolk
- Constituency
- Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket MP: Dr Peter Prinsley (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 July 1955
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Clare, Church Road, Bradfield St. Clare
- OS grid reference
- TL 909 578
- Coordinates
- 52.1854, 0.79191
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Clare is a medieval church that was restored in 1873. It features a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch, constructed from flint and limestone rubble with limestone dressings, and has plaintiled roofs. The church includes a late 14th century north doorway, which is now blocked, and a south doorway with a stoup to the right, along with a south nave window. The chancel, which has late 15th century elements, contains a piscina, a south doorway, a broad chancel arch, and two-light north and south windows, as well as a four-light east window with a hood-moulded two-centred head. The chancel roof is two-bay with principal rafters, arch-braced collars, moulded purlins, a crenellated cornice, and some fragments of tracery above the collars. There are also late 15th century two-light nave windows. The 15th century three-stage tower features a two-light west window, crenellated parapets, and two-light belfry openings.
The 1873 alterations included repairs to the south porch, which is made of knapped flint with limestone dressings and has a parapet-gabled plaintiled roof. A new nave roof of crownpost type was installed, reusing one 15th century moulded crownpost. An octagonal limestone font in Perpendicular style was added, along with choir stalls that reused three 16th century poppyhead ends, and new furnishings including a reredos, lectern, pulpit, and pews. The church features some sub-medieval clear leaded glazing in various shades, and one nave window contains fragments of medieval stained glass in the tracery. In the chancel, there is a marble-framed slate wall tablet commemorating Richard Grandorge, rector, who died in 1619, along with his two wives and son and daughter.
Local climate
Church of St Clare sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 85% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 92% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 60% of listed buildings. Of these, 19 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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- 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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