Monument record GDD 003 - Church of St Mary (Med)

This church is within the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the archdeaconry of Sudbury and the deanery of Lavenham. Status: rectory (S1) The structure is: chancel, nave, W tower, S porch (S1).
In the chancel there is a "leper's window" to the W of the priest door on the S side. Lancet-like niches either side of the chancel arch were probably used as 'reliquary aumbries'. The nave is Decorated, apart from two Norman windows; one on the N side, which is plain and one on the S side, which has chevron mouldings. The font is C15; it is a stone octagon with a very short pedestal. There is a semi-octagonal stoup bowl detached in the church. The nave roof is high-pitched, of trussed rafter design with scissor-bracing below and above the collars. The date of the original roof is C14. The nave walls are Norman and nearly 3 feet thick at the base. The lower part of the W tower is of flint and original; the upper part is finished with brick and a hipped tile roof. The S porch is modern and of white brick. Traces of a moat, which may have circled the church at one time can still be seen.

During the restoration of 1884 by E F Bisshopp as much of the Med work was retained as possible. The nave roof was reframed and refixed re-using sound oak. The 2 Norman windows were found under the plaster (S2). The greater part of a moat may be traced around Gedding church on the NW, it has an escarpment of 9 feet and is 16 feet wide and is continued in a W direction in an adjacent field. On the N it is 27 feet wide, along the E it is partially filled in ... S side is obliterated (S3).

TL 95145815. The greater part of a moat may be traced around Gedding Church; on the north west it has an escarpment of 9 ft and is 16 ft wide, and is continued westwards in an adjacent field. On the north it is 27 ft wide, and along the east side it is partially filled. The south side is obliterated. (S3)

Gedding church has been constructed on a steep natural north facing slope, that occasioned the construction of two levelled platforms and precluded completely the construction of a water-holding moat.

To the north of the church a large pond is the natural reservoir for drainage from four steep slopes; the out-flow being a swift flowing stream running north east; whilst, to the east of the church, a former sunken green lane gave access to fields to the north.

This combination of features has led to a misidentification by authority 1 and a resultant incorrect "moat" classification. (S4)