Ickworth

St Mary, Ickworth

The grand west entrance of St Mary, set incongruously in the sheep meadows of Ickworth Park. Those stairs haven't been used for a few years, though.

I've come to rely on Mortlock as I journey around the county's churches, but at St Mary I lean on him completely, since this church has been boarded up for several years, and signs on the gate warn that it is not only forbidden but dangerous to approach it.

The setting is, quite simply, superb, but could not be more incongruous. here, in the middle of the vast, tamed, open park, not a quarter of a mile from England's finest and most significant late 18th century building, St Mary skulks in its overgrown churchyard, boiling with trees and bushes behind a worn red brick wall.

All around, hundreds of acres of sheep-cropped meadows and neatly clipped lawns undulate gently, but the churchyard turns in on itself, away from all this. It is like the Secret Garden.

The tower of St Mary is that rare beast in Suffolk - an 18th century rebuilding. It is stucco-rendered in the Classical manner, but the bell stage and the bulk of the rest of the church dates from a restoration of 1833, quite early for Suffolk.

Fortunately, much has survived - so far, anyway.

St Mary was declared redundant in the 1970s, and the Hervey family bought it. They had been buried in the church for 400 years, and wanted to maintain it as their mausoleum; something similar happened with the Gooch family at Benacre.

There was a promise that it might still be used for services and concerts occasionally. Unfortunately, this hasn't happened. St Mary has been the least of the family's problems, and has been poorly cared for these last ten years.

Mortlock found much of the medieval church, and evidence of its liturgical life. This included the font, and what he calls an 'exceptionally fine' 14th century piscina, a photograph of which can be found in Cautley.

There is also a fine collection of 17th century European glass, brought back by the Herveys from their travels, although this may now have been removed. One also fears for the maintenance of the 14th century wall painting of an angel of the Annunciation, which was uncovered in 1911.

There is a picture of this in M.R. James' Norfolk and Suffolk. Presumably the 18th century silk-embroidered coat of arms, the only one of its kind in Suffolk, is no longer in the building.

This is all a terrible shame, for the Herveys were responsible for the care and protection of many west Suffolk churches, most notably neighbouring Horringer, Westley and Chevington, and they paid for the construction of St John, Bury St Edmunds.

George Hervey, Bishop of Derry and Earl of Bristol, who had the amazing rotunda of Ickworth House built to display the art treasures he collected on his travels around Europe, died without ever seeing it, in Italy in 1803. His body was brought back to St Mary for burial in the vault, and must now be spinnning quietly in his grave. If we listen carefully, and ignore the sheep for a moment, we may even hear it.

St Mary is the only Suffolk church that you actually have to pay to see; the National Trust manages the house and grounds, and a fee is payable on entrance to the Park at Horringer.

It is well worth it, for this is a wonderful place, especially for families. There are wild woodland walks, a magnificent deer park, and an adventure playground. Not to mention the House, of course.

A shame that you can't see inside the church as well.

The Ickworth angel, from M.R. James (1930).

Lord George Hervey, first Earl of Bristol, outside Ickworth House, with two of the slaves that built it. No, only joking. It's me, with my little helpers. It is Ickworth House, though.

St Mary, Ickworth, is in the middle of Ickworth Park, accessible from the A143 Bury to Haverhill road at Horringer, where a fee is payable on entrance. The church is definitely not open. Please note that the image of the angel is not copyright of this site.