If you stand across the road from St Mary, you will notice that the tower has two curious buttresses which emerge from the roof of the nave. These are much later than the tower; its decorated bell openings reveal a 14th century origin, but the buttresses were probably part of a major overhaul in the 1680s, a time of confidence in the Anglican church.
The nave appears 14th century too, suggesting that the church is all of a piece; but the font, and a window in the north wall, are at least 100 years earlier.
The best single feature of the interior is a fabulous range of late 19th Century glass, which is the work of the Clayton & Bell workshop. The main range is of Apostles and Martyrs, but there is a very fine window on the north side depicting Solomon and Zerubbabel, a reference to the building and rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, perhaps a reference to what happened here in the 1860s.
The memorials are worth more than a second glance. There is a classy late-classical memorial by John Flaxman one of only two by him in Suffolk, but perhaps of more interest is the copper plate to the son of the Rector, killed in the Battle for Arras in the First World War. He had served at both Gallipoli and Egypt. There was a very brief fashion for these memorials, and although the design is not outstanding it is very much of its period.
At first sight, you might think that St Mary has a sister church to the south, but in fact this is the 'Tattingstone Wonder', a cottage built in the shape of a church by Thomas White in the 18th century.
This cache isn't at the listed co-ordinates you will have to find some answers first........it isn't intended to be tricky, just to bring you to a lovely church that I believe is well deserving of a Church Micro.
Opposite the church you will find a bench next to the bus stop. Look at the year on the bench, this is ABCD.
Silver Jubilee ABCD
The cache co-ords are:
N 051 59.76C E 001 06.67(D-A)
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
To view the church micro stats page, please click here
***Congratulations to Redema for being FTF!***