Benhall

St Mary, Benhall

One of the great things about being a harmless eccentric is that you get to meet other harmless eccentrics. I hadn't known Aidan very long, and Benhall was part of one of our first jaunts together. My site was on its first, fresh legs, and his Sylly Suffolk was still part of the Suffolk-Now stable, before it took wing and enjoyed a life of its own. We would bounce ideas off each other to the advantage of both our sites, and may one day even get round to writing that book we keep talking about.

We'd come here from Farnham; There the open church was pretty, even if the village was not. Benhall is hardly a village at all; a scattering of hamlets either side of the hellish A12 are joined by functional lanes that cut between fields, with the church and its attendant houses beyond them.

Victorian grandeur in the quiet fields of Benhall.

At first sight, St Mary is an entirely Victorian confection; the double-breasted east end consists of the original, repointed chancel, and a north transept and chancel aisle, both with 19th century windows. It is similar in style to Somerton, across the county. The northern extensions were to contain an organ, vestry and schoolroom. On the eastern face of the original chancel, an internal memorial has been placed, rather ill-advisedly; the Victorians sometimes seem rather embarrassed by these, although they normally just banished them to the west end of the nave. Mortlock thought that the tower showed signs of being early, with late Saxon work at three of the corners; but, as he says, the Victorian touch is so overwhelming elsewhere, there is no reason to think it original. And look at it; it certainly doesn't look older than about 150 years.

The tower from the west. Note the wholly un-Saxon long-and-short work on the right hand corner.

There is a substantial south porch, with the first inkling that this church is something rather interesting after all; a large, Norman doorway.

It shows signs of being recut, but is in its original place, and is perhaps the clearest inclination of the date of the superstructure of the building.

Never mind the doorway; what about the door? Well, we thought that it was locked, without a keyholder. This was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest; Mortlock had already got me excited with his descriptions of the Jacobean pulpit, the pre-Reformation image niche, and a grand 18th century memorial to the Duke family, which includes all their ancestors back to 1598.

I was also intrigued by the sound of the brass, which he says is 'quality' - it is to the earliest members of the Duke family mentioned on the memorial.

There are also two other brasses, so you can see that this is a church you'd like to visit.

As it turns out, if we'd been a bit more macho, we might have got in. As Archdeacon Geoffrey Arrand tells me: Benhall Church is open on a daily basis from 9 am - 5 pm. However the door is heavy and some people find it difficult to open. The hand has to be turned to the right and the door pushed forward - normally the person who unlocks the church leaves it on the latch or slightly ajar to enable visitors to see the door is open and they are welcome inside.

We require if churches are locked that a notice is displayed giving the location of the key. When you find this not to be the case in my Archdeaconry I would appreciate an Email and I will deal with the matter.

So Aidan and I will go on an intensive fitness programme at the local gym, limbering up to open stiff doors. And I will go back to Benhall, because I want to see the brasses. But if anyone has any problems getting into a church in the east of the county, do let me know, and I'll pass it on to Archdeacon Geoffrey.

St Mary, Benhall, is to the west of the A12 (from which it is signposted!) near the southern exit for Saxmundham. We couldn't get in, but should have tried harder.