From the moment that you see it across the fields, you know that St Mary is something special. At first the silhouette perhaps, or a stain of gold that resolves as you approach into a solid little Norman church. The thatched roof is charming, and set against is a small square tower, also crowned in thatch.
The church gets a fair number of visitors, because its fame has spread far and wide. In particular, it has, not one, but two astonishing survivals. If they were in the Victoria and Albert Museum you would willingly travel to London to see them, and pay handsomely for doing so. And yet here they are, in the fields that punctuate the Thornham woods, in a church which is open every day.
You step directly down into the church from a small Norman doorway in the north side. A gorgeous 18th century gallery curves above you – there’s no other like it in Suffolk, but the two outstanding survivals are the retable behind the altar, and the walls which are are lined with some of Suffolk’s most fascinating medieval wall-paintings.
The retable pictured above is only part of a much larger altarpiece that probably once stood in the Priory at Thetford in Norfolk. The rest of the piece can be found in the Musee de Cluny in Paris. The retable was rescued and hidden after the Anglican Reformation destroyed the priory, along with so many of England’s treasures.
The early 14th Century wall paintings are extensive all around the church and it's worth taking time to read the information sheets available, to understand what they depict.
This listing contains excerpts from Simon Knott's excellent website www.suffolkchurches.co.uk , with grateful thanks. If anyone would like to expand this Church Micro numbered series please do by contacting sadexploration via www.geocaching.com so that he can keep track of the church numbers and names to avoid duplication.