Tannington is a backwater of a backwater, out on the long curving road that narrows beyond Worlingworth, before becoming a track connecting the churches of Tannington and Bedfield. On a sunny day, the graveyard is as pretty as any, wide and open with St Ethelbert's rather stubby little shape in the centre, and only an old farmhouse for company.
The porch was added in 1451, by which time this building must have looked pretty much as it does now, apart from the roof, which would have been thatched.
This is a building full of light, and the light illuminates some of the most beautiful 15th Century benches in the county, although their ends have been terribly badly mutilated. But somehow, this adds to their poignancy, and, although they are clear victims of Anglican iconoclasm, they are so smoothed that they look as if the centuries had simply melted them away.
St Ethelbert has something else, even rarer than medieval bench ends. This is a Royal Arms for Elizabeth II, one of only only five of these anywhere in East Anglia. The war memorial is sweetly tended and beautiful, but in a display case to the west is a memory of one of the boys who came back, the Companions of the Great War (Framlingham branch) certificate for Private SG Crisp. In the same display are also old bibles, but best of all is a surviving parish truncheon, as wielded by the 19th century parish constable.
This listing contains excerpts from Simon Knott's excellent website www.suffolkchurches.co.uk , with grateful thanks. If anyone would like to expand this Church Micro numbered series please do by contacting sadexploration via www.geocaching.com so that he can keep track of the church numbers and names to avoid duplication.