Monument record ADH 004 - Church of St Mary

This church is within the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the archdeaconry of Ipswich and the deanery of Hadleigh.
Two churches for the parish of Aldham are recorded in the Domesday book; the second is thought to be located in the parish of Whatfield (S5).
Status: rectory (S1). The structure is: chancel, nave, N vestry (modern), S porch, round tower (S2).
The earliest part of the building is the lower portion of the round tower; this is Norman. The date of the church except for the tower is circa 1350 and the style of architecture is early Decorated. The chancel contains a simple C13 piscina with engaged shafts and a moulded arch. Built into the jamb of a window on the S of the nave is a fragment of the shaft of a cross with interlaced ornament: this is possibly pre-Conquest. The font is a square basin supported by feet at the corners and in the centre. Three C15 poppy- headed bench ends with rudely carved and charged shields remain along with some even cruder ones. On the back of a seat near the porch door, carved in wood and in old English characters is the date 1537. There is a medieval lectern base and the church is full of excellent C19 oak woodwork. The tower arch is C16. The windows of the church date from circa 1300 (S2). W M Fawcett carried out a major restoration on the church in 1883-1884: the S wall was entirely rebuilt and a new chancel arch, with N and S buttresses, was constructed. The upper two thirds of the tower were rebuilt and the N door was opened up. New pitch pine roofs were made. Another restoration took place in 1889 (S2)(S3)(S4).
Visit by RDC 11 November 1975 - notes held in his church file.
Churchyard extended south since 1960s.