Monument record PRH 004 - Church of St Mary (Med)

St Edmundsbury and Ipswich diocese, Suffolk archdeaconry, Loes deanery. Status : vicarage. Structure : chancel, nave, N porch, W tower. Date : tower Decorated, porch Perpendicular. The church is located in the centre of the parish, in the village (S4). Early C14 nave doorways. Decorated chancel arch and Decorated W tower (S1).
The SIA visited St Mary's in October 1859 and noted "a tolerably perfect rood screen" and "original painting" remaining (S2).
The "most striking feature" of this church "is a recess externally high up in the tower above the W window. It is mutilated and weathered but the remains show it had a large arched canopy, cusped and crocketted, with side pinnacles and at the base are three stools which were probably occupied by a rood". The screen is C15 as is the simple piscina in the S wall and the font is early C15". There are two Med bells, one inscribed VENI SPON SA MEA AD ORTUM MEUM (Come my spouse at my arising) and the other ASSUMPTA EST MARIA IN CELUM (The Blessed Virgin Mary has been received into Heaven). The bells still hang in the original C14 braced bell frames. Scratch dial. (precis) (S3)
A rare mass dial with numerals and grafitti of men in ship from c.1400.