From the west: All Saints.

It was an ill-conceived plan; they never obtained a passenger licence for it, and its usefulness for freight was somewhat curtailed by their inability to bring it closer to the town than a field a mile to the north.

It absorbed a huge amount of the company's capital, and was probably partly responsible for the Middy's demise in the 1950s. It is ironic that the only substantial relic of the railway is on this spur, the embankments of a bridge over the B1077.

All Saints has survived much more successfully, of course. It did fall victim to the enthusiasms of Edward Hakewill in the 1870s, an architect I've never particularly warmed to, although he made a fairly decent stab at this one.

This is mainly because he resisted the temptation to install a low north aisle, a particular habit of his, and not an endearing one I think. You can see the results of it at places as diverse as Shottisham and Brantham.

The need for a new aisle here was obviated by the presence of a very fine brickbuilt south aisle and chapel, flush with the porch and with its own entrance from it.

It was built as a chantry chapel for the Garneys family in 1524, and was dedicated to St John. The juxtaposition of red brick and flint is always a charming one, and moreso than usual here. You step into a neat, clean interior, obviously very well loved and cared for.

Virtually everything you see is 19th century, but it is all most pleasant.

A particularly interesting medieval survival is the excellent set of consecration crosses, outlined in the cutaway 19th century plaster. Many of these survive in East Anglia because it was impossible for the Victorians to rake out the old plaster to reveal the stone beneath, as they did in many of England's churches - flint rubble doesn't look so good when you expose it.

I was also fascinated by the slabs of lead hanging on the north wall. These date from a 1714 renovation of the roof, and are inscribed with the names of churchwardens and donors of the time. One of them carries the name Garneys, a reminder of continuity from two centuries earlier. There is a marvellous piece of furniture in front of it, presumably some kind of pew, with thin balusters and the date 1595.

Thoroughly Hakewilled - but rather good, on this occasion.

T.M. Felgate illustrates it in his excellent Knights on Suffolk Brasses of 1976, at which time he records it as being 'loose in the vestry'. I wonder where it is now.

left: Consecration cross.

All Saints, Kenton, is just to the east of the B1077 Debenham to Eye road, on the unclassified road between Occold and Earl Soham. I found it open.