Monument record LKH 112 - Church of St Mary

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Summary

This church is in the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the archdeaconry of Sudbury and the deanery of Mildenhall.

Location

Grid reference Centred TL 7145 8274 (122m by 111m)
Map sheet TL78SW
Civil Parish LAKENHEATH, FOREST HEATH, SUFFOLK

Map

Type and Period (3)

Full Description

This church is in the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the archdeaconry of Sudbury and the deanery of Mildenhall. Status: vicarage (S1). The structure is: chancel, nave, N aisle, S aisle, N porch, S porch, embattled W tower (S2).
The chancel is C13; the C13 work was an extension of the Norman chapel, the length of which is clear from the outside especially on the S side where the joint is visible. On the N side of the chancel, on the inside, is a fragment of saw-tooth (chevron) string course and a Norman respond. In the N wall is an arch with a circular head and a round pillar. A little to the W of this is a pointed arch, now filled up. In the S wall, at the E end, is a small piscina and sedilia in the sill of the SE window. The chancel arch is Norman and circular with three engaged columns having cushion caps and a boldly moulded arch. To the left of the chancel arch is one Norman colonette with the beginning of an arch. This may well indicate blank arcading of the altar space. There was a N chapel, which no longer exists, but its W wall and blocked arch from the chancel have left traces. The doorway to the chapel was reset in the blocked wall. Traces of the original Norman nave are visible in the N face of the wide pier between the present nave and the N aisle, and in the outside of the N aisle wall. The Norman church ended in an apse and was faced with local carrstone (S2).
Part of the medieval nave is Decorated, the rest is early Perpendicular, there is a piscina at the E end. It has a splendid low-pitched, arch-braced tie-beam roof. The tie-beams alternate with hammer-beams and above the tie- beams are queenposts and tracery. The tie-beams have angels with extended wings upon them. The roof as a whole is very similar to that at Mildenhall MNL 211 (S2).
Further architectural details in (S2).

Sources/Archives (2)

  • <S1> (No record type): SAU, Suffolk Parishes, A Guide to their Archaeol & Hist, 1984-1985, ms.
  • <S2> (No record type): SAU (Atkinson R G), Summary of Doc Sources for Churches in Suff,1986, ms.

Finds (3)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (0)

Record last edited

Mar 6 2012 11:40AM

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