Suffolk churches from Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Sudbury, Haverhill, Ipswich and Framlingham areas among those highlighted in new book
From the history-steeped charm of tiny ancient chapels to the soaring architectural glories of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Suffolk’s churches range from the modest to the magnificent.
They have long been part of the life of Sarah Doig. The author - a clergyman’s daughter - visited many of them with her father, and growing up in Bury she sang in the cathedral choir.
Her latest book is a homage to those historic places of worship which for centuries were the heart of community life in every town and village.
Some stand proud as the focal point of a famous view, others are hidden deep in the countryside.
Far too numerous to include them all in her book - there are more than 450 medieval and Tudor churches in the county - she has selected 50 to feature in Churches of Suffolk.
Choosing was hard. She has picked out a few of the most-celebrated like Long Melford’s awe-inspiring Holy Trinity, the cathedral, and St Mary’s in Bury St Edmunds, but many are the lesser-known gems including those with special meaning for her.
“I’ve not gone for the obvious ones,” says Sarah. “That was intentional. There’s no point covering the same ground that a lot of people have done before.
“I wanted to try to provide a completely representative sample of all types of churches in the county.
“Getting an even balance across the county was difficult. What I have tried to do is open people’s eyes to places they might not have visited or even heard of. They are not necessarily beautiful outside. Some are, some are not.”
In the introduction to her book she says “I find churches endlessly fascinating. Each one is a time capsule which offers the visitors an insight into the religious life of a community through the centuries.
“By peeling back the layers of stone, glass and wood inside and out, and by studying how changes in religious practices at a national and local level affected these establishments, a vivid picture emerges of the history of a parish and its people.”
She acknowledges that some people will be surprised at what she has left out. Lavenham’s spectacular St Peter and St Paul, is not included. Nor is Wenhaston, home of the very rare 16th century Doom Painting.
“I tried to choose 50 that were packed full of interesting things, not only architectural features inside and out.
“I found it far more interesting to look at the evidence and find out what it tells us about the community and how they lived.
“It's not supposed to take the place of the individual church guidebooks, many of which are very well written.”
The book is dedicated to her father, the Rev Michael Booker, who died shortly after she was asked to write it in 2021.
“There is a personal angle to this as well. I spoke to my father when I was commissioned. Sadly he died in November 2021.
“When I was writing the book it became a homage to him and also a kind of personal pilgrimage for me. I put in some of the churches where he worked, and that we had visited together.
Her father - a talented musician as well as a priest - studied the organ at the London College of Music before joining the Church.
The family came to Suffolk when she was a baby. “We moved to Mildenhall when I was one, when my father was curate there.
“When I was three we moved to Bury where he spent many years and was Precentor at the cathedral, which meant he was in charge of the sacred aspect of church music. It was the ideal role for mim.
“He then moved to be chaplain at Framlingham College, and stayed there. He used to compose a lot of music for Framlingham church choir.”
Sarah went to King Edward VI School in Bury, then to Lancaster University to study music. She now plays viols in an early music group.
But after doing a postgraduate qualification with a view to becoming a music librarian she switched paths and joined the Foreign Office.
“It was very enjoyable and extremely challenging, and taught me a lot about writing and speaking. They trained us very well in writing concisely and accurately,” she says. “I was based mainly in London, and travelled a lot.
“I met my husband Mike in the Foreign Office and we had one joint posting to Berne in Switzerland. When he decided to take early retirement, I decided to take the opportunity to reinvent myself.
That’s how I came to be back in Suffolk 13 years ago, said Sarah, who lives in Rickinghall and has since built a career as a writer and public speaker.
She spent last summer visiting more than 70 churches before making her final selection “Planning tours to the various churches was a huge undertaking. I mostly did it in June and July last year,” she says.
The book is lavishly illustrated and Sarah also took on the challenge of taking all the photographs herself. “Interiors were the most difficult thing to photograph by far,” she admits,
Her method of writing means that once she starts the words flow freely. “Once I start typing those first words it doesn’t take me very long to actually write the book.
“I have almost crafted what I want to say in my head before I start. Doing it that way used to frustrate my boss in the Foreign Office,” she adds.
Descriptions of the churches contain a multitude of facts but also give a sense of the character of the buildings and their surroundings, and how it feels to be there.
“I try to put across a flavour of the atmosphere of the churches when I visit them as well. I have branched out a bit from my purely factual writing.”
She says Badley, just outside Stowmarket, is a good example of that - describing it as probably the most idyllic, magical setting of any church in Suffolk where deer roam the surrounding farmland and buzzards circle overhead.
Inside the now redundant church, many medieval and Tudor features remain untouched over the centuries.
“Erwarton is another favourite if you like quite eerie places because it’s on a deserted peninsula, but the church is not a scary place.”
In fact she says the building, where a box discovered in 1838 is reputed to contain the heart of Anne Boleyn, feels as if it welcomes the visitor with open arms.
Denston, near Stradishall, was one of her favourites. She agrees with many other experts that the 15th century church with its modest tower built a century earlier, is magnificent.
“I always feel like a child in a sweet shop being let loose inside this church. There is so much to explore at every turn,” she writes, noting that the original oak benches feature animals including a “rather brave attempt by the 15th century carver of an elephant.”
The tiny thatched chapel of St Stephen in Bures near Sudbury is described by Sarah as a real gem. It was first consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1218, and stands on the exact spot where it is said St Edmund was crowned in 855.
In complete contrast Holy Trinity in Long Melford – larger than some cathedrals with the longest nave of any parish church in England – stands as a visual tribute to the prosperity of the medieval wool trade.
While most of the churches she describes are ancient, Sarah has also included a few newer examples like St Mary’s in Westley – one of the first churches in England built of concrete. It dates from 1934 and was constructed with the help of a contribution from the Ist Marquess of Bristol, of nearby Ickworth House.
“One that was really quite a surprise was Stowlangtoft,” she says. “The sun striking the elegant stonework made me instantly fall in love with St George’s.” The graceful structure was almost entirely built between 1370 and 1420, with a sense of height and space that continues inside.
Visitors entering the main door are greeted by an enormous wall painting of St Christopher, and another highlight is the original carved benches and seats featuring creatures both real and mythical.
She also found St Ethelbert’s at Hessett a source of fascinating treasures including a wealth of medieval stained glass, wall paintings such as one depicting the seven deadly sins, and the intricately carved 15th century rood screen.
Nikolaus Pevsner, the celebrated art historian, called the tower of St Nicholas in Little Saxham the most spectacular Norman round tower in Suffolk. Sarah says no-one would disagree.
King Charles II was regularly entertained lavishly at Saxham Hall and is reputed on one occasion to have nodded off during a lengthy sermon in the village church due to the previous night’s overindulgence.
St Stephen’s in Higham between Bury and Newmarket was built when the parish was created in 1894 - until then it had been a hamlet of Gazeley. With £3,600 to spend the church authorities commissioned celebrated architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, who constructed it in the Early English style of the 13th century, complete with a round tower.
The church of St Andrew and St Patrick in Elveden has its roots in the 12th century but has many newer addition financed by residents of the nearby Elveden estate including the deposed Maharajah Duleep Singh and the first Earl of Iveagh.
Sarah says to appreciate the full splendour of St Mary’s in Mildenhall you need to look heavenward and take in the 50 metre high tower and breathtaking angel roof.
Memorials in the church are not confined to prominent local people like Sir Henry Barton who rose to be Lord Mayor of London in the 15th century.One stained glass window has lights dedicated to church cleaner Mary Anne Jolly (d. 1908), and Mary Louisa Fordham (d.1949) who rang the bells for 22 years.
Close by in Lakenheath, writes Sarah, 15th century angels rather than the fighter jets from the nearby airbase fly over the heads of the congregation. The parish church of St Mary the Virgin also contains numerous wall paintings dating from the early 13th to the 17th centuries.
Among the treasures of St Peter and St Paul in Kedington near Haverhill is a 9th century Saxon cross found under the floor during restorations. The church also contains a pulpit that was used by Puritan Samuel Fairclough, who presided over the witch trials in Bury instigated by Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins.
The book also features many churches from east Suffolk, including Ipswich, Lowestoft, and St Michael’s, Framlingham – famed for a memorial to Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII, who but for his death aged 17 could well have acceded to the throne changing the course of British history.
On a more homely scale are All Saints at Crowfield, with its half-timbered chancel, that Sarah says delights the eye from every angle, and Harleston’s St Augustine of Canterbury, a thatched church Norman in origin which she says is one of the prettiest in Suffolk.
Churches of Suffolk by Sarah E Doig is published by Amberley and is available from most bookshops, and online.
