Visit St Mary’s Church

The congregation welcomes you to this magnificent and beautiful church.

St Mary’s is open, when possible, from 10.30am to 3pm, and a steward will usually be available to welcome you.

What to see when you visit?

The resting place of Mary Tudor

At the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539 the tomb and body of Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Duchess of Suffolk, were transferred to the sanctuary in St Mary’s. One of the windows in the south chapel depicts the main events from Mary’s life.

The Royal Anglian Regimental Chapel

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Built in 1457, at the cost of Jankyn Smyth, the chapel became the Suffolk Regimental Chapel in 1935. In September 2009 the chapel was rededicated to the Royal Anglian Regiment.

The decorated chancel is one of the oldest parts of St Mary’s. There are 198 carved and coloured bosses, subjects include the Lancastrian chained swan, animals and a variety of beasts, human and grotesque faces, leaves and flowers. The pew hassocks have been embroidered using several of these images.

Chancel Roof

John Baret’s Chantry Chapel

John Baret, who died in 1467, was a wealthy clothier and merchant who lived in Chequer Square. Baret’s effigy of a decaying corpse had been made in his lifetime to remind him of the inevitability of death. The unique ceiling above Baret’s tomb includes his motto, ‘Grace me governe’.

The Angel Roof

The nave roof is of single hammer-beam constructions, with eleven pairs of life-sized angels. The angels show a procession in honour of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Poppy-head Pews

Replacing box pews, these benches were installed in 1867 and each carving is unique.

St Mary’s has one of the longest aisles of any parish church in England, it also has one of the largest west windows. The stained-glass window was paid for by local landowners as a thanksgiving for the bumper harvest of 1854.

The West Window and The Aisle

Stained Glass Windows

There are several stained glass windows in St Mary’s, including a series of seven windows on the theme ‘Triumph of Faith’ based on Hebrews chapter 11.