Just south of the strange landscape of Wortham Common, and away from the horrible A143, head south towards Mellis, and not long after, you will see this ship of a church riding the western fields. For me, the view is quintessential Suffolk; a great medieval tower raised above simple council houses, surrounded by hedgerows and barley fields. There is no big house, no great hall, just the homes of the ordinary people. What a sight it must be if you have been away from it for very long!

And yet, for several reasons, this is a most unusual church, and there isn't another like it in the county. This won't be apparent from the outside, however, so instead you can admire the fine Decorated exterior, reasonably unfamiliar in this land of Perpendicular, and if it is a little over-restored by our friend Phipson, it still retains the patina of age that is more easily effaced in its architectural sequel.

St Mary is tightly hemmed in by its hedge. A large cross looms in front of the east window. The cherry trees by the porch were in full bloom as I let myself into the church. I had got the key from the house next door; there's another one a couple of houses up. Again, I was struck by how friendly and welcoming the people in this benefice were; the sign made this clear too, encouraging visitors to get the key, and asking if they wouldn't mind too much taking it back afterwards. The war memorial has been mounted in the porch, the only one like it in Suffolk. Before going in, I made sure I looked at the two headstops to the arch, which I had seen featured in John Timpson's English Country Churches. They are portraits made in the late 1980s of the two churchwardens, Harry Baker and Billy West.

I stepped into a screened area at the west end of the church, designed in the style of a baptistery as at Gosbeck. But this is altogether on a grander scale, and behind the lovely font, with its dedicatory inscription to the Burgates, there were several other screened areas, which we will come back to in a moment.

I stepped through the doors of the screen into the body of the church. Richard Phipson was pretty thorough here, and this is to all intents and purposes a Victorian church inside. There is no division between nave and chancel, the body of the church continuing eastwards the same width. In the north side, there are some fragments of medieval glass, including a rare image and label of St Augustine. However, I was struck mainly by the tomb of William de Burgate and his wife Alianora. This stands lengthwise on, directly in front of the altar. On top of it sits one of Suffolk's three finest brasses (the others are at nearby Redgrave and far-off Acton). It is a surprisingly high tomb, making photography difficult (next time I come back, I'm bringing a stepladder).

William died on the vigil of St James the Apostle 1409, and Alionora died - well, we don't know. Her date has been left blank, a not uncommon occurrence. It is an awesome piece, and the whole building revolves around it.

And yet, even while taking it in you will be distracted by the quite extraordinary side altar set against the north wall beside it. It is a chapel of remembrance to those named on the memorial in the porch. It is the work of the Reverend Appleyard, who came here in 1919, and who was largely responsible for the Anglo-catholic makeover that this place received, and has never really recovered from.

The thing that makes it remarkable is that all the candlesticks and furnishings are made out of shell-cases, supposedly by soldiers in a field hospital in Flanders where Appleyard was chaplain. He built the altar itself, which is set in the entrance to a former chapel, not an Easter sepulchre, as several guides suggest. If you look just behind it to the east, you'll see his helmet.

Another remarkable feature of the altar is that, as well as naming the local lads who were slaughtered in northern France, it also carries the names of the two medieval de Burgates. And, as if that was not enough, St Edmund, King and Martyr. I suppose that they all died in battle of a kind.

If you want to see what Appleyard looked like, his portrait is up in the screened off area to the west of the main entrance, along with all Burgate's other Priests back into the 19th century. The current churchwarden showed them to me, pointing out that Appleyard was 'a bit of a tyrant'. I assumed he was speaking from memory. The current Rector of the benefice has plans to return to use the chapel of St Edmund, which is screened off in the north-west corner of the nave. This was Appleyard's lady chapel, a neat solution in a church with no aisles. It has fallen out of use in recent years, but might easily be restored to use for mid-week communions, and the like. I stood in it for a few moments, taking in one of the memories of the triumphalist early 20th century church that has almost been lost to us.

St Mary, Burgate, is just off of the road between Wortham and Mellis to the south of the A143. It is locked, but there are several keyholders, including one next door.

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