Follow the brown signs

A church frozen in time

St Mary’s is one of Suffolk’s most remarkable Medieval churches – its setting and unmodernised interior give an atmosphere of great peace and stillness.

To discover its charm, you must begin with a journey – a mile’s walk or drive down a rutted track across Suffolk farmland, to a small valley of trees and birdsong.

The flint-and-brick church has nothing for company but a 16th-century farmhouse and the wildlife of its pretty churchyard.

Passing through the sturdy Medieval door with its iron grille, you step into a time capsule – a church scarcely changed for 300 years with plain walls and a brick floor set with memorials to the Poleys, once owners of the house nearby.

The 17th/18th century arrangement of the pews, which incorporates Medieval benches, combined with fragments of a screen with 17th-century panelling, where the oak is silvery-grey with age, make an extraordinary ensemble.

There are monuments and memorial slabs to the Poleys and others.

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