St Mary's Church is the parish church of Wortham in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England, and in the

Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part ...

. It is a

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berks ...

; the tower is said to be the largest such in England. The building is

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Description

The tower, of the early 12th century, has a diameter of and height , and is said to be the largest Norman round tower in England. The upper part collapsed in 1789, and has since then been roofless. A coffin slab of Barnack stone, probably of the 12th century, is set below the hole which was formerly the west window of the tower. Next to the tower, at the west end of the nave, is an 18th-century weatherboarded turret with a weathervane, housing a bell."Wortham St Mary"
''The Round Tower Churches of Europe''. Retrieved 28 April 2023. The

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

, of the early 15th century, has on each side six windows and a horizontal band of

flushwork In architecture, flushwork is decorative masonry work which combines on the same flat plane flint and ashlar stone. If the stone projects from a flat flint wall then the term is proudwork, as the stone stands "proud" rather than being "flush" w ...

panels. The south porch was rebuilt in 1908. Inside, the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and aisles with three-bay arcades date from the 14th century. The organ, at the west end, is set in front of the blocked tower arch. The font, near the door, is of the 14th century; it is octagonal with

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the Old French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of a crocket to a bishop's Shepherd's crook, ...

ted gables, fine tracery and

brattishing In architecture, brattishing or brandishing is a decorative cresting which is found at the top of a cornice or screen, panel or parapet. The design often includes leaves or flowers, and the term is particularly associated with Tudor architecture ...

around the top of the bowl. The pews, dating from 1893, have carved figures and animals at the ends of the benches.

Richard Cobbold Richard Cobbold (1797 – 5 January 1877) was a British writer. Life Richard Cobbold was born in 1797 in the Suffolk town of Ipswich, to John Cobbold (1746–1835), John (1746–1835) and the poet and writer Elizabeth Cobbold, Elizabeth (née ...

, who became well known nationally as a writer, was the rector at Wortham from 1828 until his death in 1877.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wortham, St Mary's Church Grade I listed churches in Suffolk Church of England church buildings in Suffolk Round-tower churches Mid Suffolk District