St Mary's Church, Worlingworth, Suffolk


This large village comes as a surprise, as it is rather off the beaten track. The church of St Mary rears its 15th century head above the pretty cottages, and we step through a gate into the tight, verdant graveyard.

From here, the sheer scale of the Perpendicular windows is accentuated by the lack of a clerestory. Worlingworth's great tower, lifting above the graveyard. Note the way that the eastern buttresses disappear into the nave. This is not going to be a gloomy interior.

The porch disguises the size of the church, being large in proportion. This church is opened in daylight hours, so you will be able to step straight through into what is a charming and interesting interior, with much to see. No other church in Suffolk is quite like it.

The first thing to strike the visitor is the great span of the double hammer-beam roof. Going up. The angels are modern, and carry appropriate heraldic shields. Beneath, quite the loveliest set of 17th century pews in the county; their doors are carved with the familiar arch, the wood burnished with the patina of age. The date 1630 can be seen at the front. Their aesthetic quality bears testimony to burgeoning Laudian piety, but the light of the vast windows makes them rational, leaving no doubt that they were built to hear the preaching of the Word.

Fresh from 1630, Suffolk's loveliest Jacobean pews.

Some medieval fragments survive in the upper lights of the windows. But the most interesting survivals here are more recent. In the south aisle, a huge picture shows the Worlingworth feast on the occasion of the Jubilee of George III in 1810C. Worlingworth Church can be seen to the left. If you look closely, you'll see an ox being roasted on a great spit.

Turning to the north west, you can see the spit itself leaning up in the corner. In front of it, the Worlingworth fire engine, dating from the year of George III's accession, 1760. It was last used on Guy Fawkes Night, 1927.


Note the high door in the west wall. The font cover is famous for its size and decoration. Only Ufford and Sudbury St Gregory surpass it, although it has been victim to considerable restoration. The Victorians seemed to think that it had been brought here from Bury Abbey after the Reformation, but there is no evidence for this - in fact, exactly the opposite. It looks designed for the space it now fills. A curious doorway is in the west wall above it. Surely this cannot have been the way into a gallery? The tower is too late to have a door designed for a ladder to be drawn up. Is it a remodelling of the sanctus bell window? To what purpose?

Fish in the ford; St Christopher walked here, before the rest of him disappeared. Part of the St Christopher wall-painting survives; once, almost every church had one of these. Here, we see sea creatures, going about their business beneath the Saint's feet. William Godbold gave the alms box in 1622; his inscription survives.

Don't miss, amongst all these exciting curiosa, the original dedicatory inscription on the font. It asks us to pray for the soul of Nicholas Moni, a request that has gone unanswered these last 450 years or so, but that has survived as he intended.


This is a delightful and welcoming church. It may not be one of Suffolk's grandest, but a combined visit to here and neighbouring Bedfield and Tannington is as worthwhile as one to any of Suffolk's more famous churches.