I often get asked which is my favourite Suffolk church. It is easy to make a case for many of the countys churches and for many different reasons. But there is one church that fits into pretty much all categories, and it is here, not far from the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Not only is St Mary of Mendlesham architecturally and historically fascinating, it is also magical, grand, interesting, beautiful and open. What more could you want in a church? St Mary has a special place in the hearts of one particular strand of the Church of England; for here in this busy little working village among the barley plains is the last surviving thorough-going Anglo-Catholic parish church in all Suffolk. For well over a quarter of a century, Father Philip Gray has kept the flame of the Faith alive here. No Affirming Catholicism pussyfooting for Mendlesham. Here, Mass is still celebrated daily, the sacraments are administered, and the great Feast of the Assumption still kept as the highest Saint’s day of the year, as it once was all over Suffolk.
The church is open - it is always open. From the wide graveyard, an old lady passed me on her way into the church - as it turned out, to light a candle. This seemed to me such a beautiful, natural thing to do if you were visiting your dead family. I followed her into the porch.
The upper part of the porch contains Mendlesham’s famous armoury, which can be visited by appointment. It is well worth the detour, and if you doubt the wisdom of having a weapons museum in a church, you might be relieved to learn that it is was quite common in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods for church porches and towers to host the Parish armoury. Some of the arms here date back to the 16th century, but more interesting perhaps is the Civil War stuff. Some of this was carried at the famous muster on Mellis Common which resulted in Suffolk’s only two Civil War deaths, when a musket went off by accident. Which just goes to show that ‘friendly fire’ is nothing new.
I mention the upper room of the porch before we go inside, because I want nothing to distract us from the impact of St Mary’s interior. A clue that we are about to leave the mundane world behind is in the porch itself; pressed into service as a holy water stoup is one of the loveliest fonts in the county. It came from Rishangles, when the church there was made redundant and sold off by the money-changers. It has had various claims made for its age, Mortlock unaccountably dating it as 1600; but it must surely be late 19th century. Whatever, it is stunning, and a mark that this church has always found a home for orphans of elsewhere, and that some of these orphans are beautiful.
Simon Knott - Suffolk churches
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html
To find the co-ordinates for the physical cache you need to find a memorial in the churchyard to the USAAF. On the memorial are some numbers.
VW XYWW XYWZ
Using these find the co-ordinates to the cache
N52 XW.(Y-X)(Z+X)Z
E001 0(V+X+X).0(X+Z)X
You are looking for a camo tube
****Well done to Box Teddies and BEASTMARSTA for being FTF****