Redlingfield

St Andrew, Redlingfield

The large medieval structure now in use as a barn in the adjacent farmyard tells you straight away that this was not always the silent, remote spot it is today. Now, St Andrew sits out in the fields, with only a footpath connecting it to the nearest road; there is a firm notice at the farm gate telling you that there is no access to church visitors, so you must leave your car and walk.

Redbrick St Andrew from the south west - the view from the priory.

But, until the Reformation, there was a large priory here, and the surviving building was probably its refectory. The church was appropriated very early on, and served jointly as parish church and priory chapel.

Garneys of Kenton.

Curiously, this church is almost entirely built of red brick, the only one in Suffolk of its period that I know. The nave is rendered, the tower truncated, and the chancel renewed; but, there it is, a red brick medieval church

The truncation to the tower is capped rather unattractively, but mostly it all works.

There is an interesting memorial set into the south nave wall for a member of the Garneys family, who I'd met an hour previously at Kenton.

Like several around here, you sense that an awful lot was done to this church by the Victorians, and not a lot since. But that's okay; out here in the fields, stepping into this church was like entering a Thomas Hardy novel.

superb piscina.

St Andrew.

There is a good 15th century font, and the woodwork looks older than 19th century. There is an excellent piscina in the nave south wall. It may be reset, but it is probably in it s original place.

One thing I was most fond of; this church has taken its dedication to heart, and the community have decorated its walls with pictures and icons of St Andrew, including a superb sketch in oil pastels.

There is a St Andrew flag to the west, and even a greeting from Prince Andrew framed in the porch.

St Andrew is a popular Saint in Suffolk, as he is in all maritime counties, but I'd not come across anything like this in an Anglican church before. I even found a fishing net, complete with cork floats, on a bench at the back. Perhaps it is a relic.

The porch also contains the village stocks - they are hidden beneath a bench in the porch, and you might miss them. They contain two sets of four holes, set some distance apart, as if the prisoners might not prefer each other's company.

Stocks in the porch.

Mortlock reminds us of a sad story of the monks and nuns of Redlingfield. At the dissolution, they were given twenty four hours notice to leave, and turned out into the world with not much more than their faith to keep them company.

The chancel, and nave beyond, from the north east.

St Andrew, Redlingfield, is just south of the B1117 Eye to Stradbroke road. I found it open.