Description

CLOPTON GRUNDISBURGH ROAD TM 25 SW (East Side) 8/21 Church of St. Mary 16/3/66 G.V. II*

Church. Early C14 and C15 with additions and alterations of c.1883. Flint rubble with ashlar dressings and a slate and plaintile roof. Nave, chancel, south western porch-tower and north-eastern organ chamber. Tower: south face: diagonal buttresses which die back into the corners by 4 offsets. Central porch arch with triple chamfer to sides. The inner two chamfers developing into ogee and cavetto moulds to the arch. Ashlar band below the level of the first stage window which is rectangular with a double-chamfered ashlar surround. Further band at sill level of belfry opening which is of 2 lights with cinquefoil heads and with Perpendicular tracery above. String course with central gargoyle below the parapet which is battlemented and has ashlar coping. East face: no doorway but otherwise similar, save for angle buttress at right. West face: similar to east face, the angle buttress here at left. North face: adjoins nave to lower body but with similar belfry opening. Nave: south face: tower-porch at left and to right of this a Perpendicular window of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights with panel tracery, a C19 replacement. Buttress to far right which dies back via 2 offsets. North face: 3 bays, rubble walling with some brick patching above the heads of the windows and lines of tiles. Left hand window of 2 lights, Y-tracery. The other 2 windows of C19 early- Perpendicular form of 3 lights with cinquefoil, ogee heads and panel tracery. Between the bays and at left are projecting buttresses, each with 2 offsets and ashlar dressings. White brick dressings to left hand buttress. A diagonal buttress to right hand corner. Slate roof with decorative ridge tiles. West face: diagonal buttresses dying into the corner by 2 offsets. Central 3-light Perpendicular window with cinquefoil heads and panel tracery. Chancel: rebuilt c.1883. South face: 2 bays, the windows each of 2 lights with cinquefoil ogee heads and quatrefoils to the apexes. Priest's door between these with pointed arched head and ovolo moulded surround. North face: masked at right by the organ chamber which is a lean-to temporary structure. To left of this is a similar 2-light window to those seen on the south face. East face: central 3-light Decorated window with cinquefoil heads and daggers to either side of three encircled quatrefoils.

Interior: Porch: doorway to the church is double-chamfered, the inner arches having ogee and cavetto moulds. Nave: roof of 8 bays of hammerbeam construction, the wall posts terminating in shields showing the emblems of the passion and linked to the hammerbeams by arched braces which have carved spandrels. Connecting the hammerbeams and collars are lengthy arched braces which connect to the lower side of the collar beams, from which spring king posts, rising to the ridge beam. Angels bearing shields to the ends of the hammerbeams mostly C19 and imitating 2 which appear to be of C17. Two sets of heavily moulded purlins and a richly moulded cornice which has bead and billet moulding. The undersides of the arched braces, principals, collars and hammerbeams are also richly moulded. The chancel arch has semi-octagonal columns which rest on richly moulded vigorously carved C19 corbels. C19 chancel roof of similar hammerbeam construction as the nave roof. Font: Octagonal bowl on octagonal stem and step which has 2 quatrefoils to each face of the riser. Bowl has quatrefoil panels, each with a central shield.

Sources: Nikolaus Pevsner, Buildings of England: Suffolk.1974 H. Munro Cautley, Suffolk Churches, 1982

Listing NGR: TM2211252575

External Links

• Wikidata Q17546666

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Recommended Books

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)