The road between Haverhill and Newmarket is busier than I'd like, but cycling this way I was struck by how pleasant the villages are, and how well-off. Little Thurlow is probably the prettiest, partly because the road opens out into a village green here. The church is just to the east, by the infant River Stour.

Before giving it the once over, notice the chain attached to a tower buttress. I am assured that it was intended for 18th century parishioners to tie their dog to. Once you have done a circuit of the church, two things will strike you - the curious shape of the church, and the lovely clerestory of round windows. This is appears to be a refashioning of the 18th or 19th century, rather than a post-Reformation construction.

The most unusual shape of the north side of St Peter is a tribute to the wealth and enthusiasms of the Soame family, who we have met a mile or so away at Little Bradley. They lived at Thurlow Hall, and were also responsible for the pretty almshouses up on the top road. In the early 17th century, before the triumph of the puritans, they had a family chapel built on to the north side of the chancel. It was, perhaps, intended to echo the chantry chapels of a century earlier; not, I hasten to add, because they shared a pre-Reformation theology, but because it gave a sense of antiquity to the family name. Given that the wealth of families such as the Soames came from largesse distributed at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, there is a certain irony in this. Other families who had built chantries in the Middle Ages continued to use them after the Reformation for the new beliefs and practices of the Church of England. The two main uses were that they were a place to sit for the ministry of the word, out of sight of the common people, and for burying and memorialising the dead.

Here at Little Thurlow, Sir Samuel Soame lies beneath what I am told is one of the grandest memorials in Suffolk, but I have not seen it. The church was locked, and although two keyholders are listed, this being Saturday morning they were both out. I was very disappointed (far more than I had been up the road at Great Thurlow, which is dull by comparison) because the interior appears to be full of Soame memorials, hatchments and the like, as well as great deal of good furnishing of the 18th century, presumably as a result of their patronage.

Also inside, and visible through the window, is a statue of St Edmund by Dame Elizabeth Frink, a memorial to her father. It is very small, and sits on a pedestal by the pulpit. It struck me that the presence of the statue was probably the reason that the church was kept locked. This is understandable, but regrettable; the main function of a church building should not be to protect art objects. Perhaps the figure could be fixed in place, or alarmed, or even removed altogether to a place of greater safety. It did occur to me that if someone was desperate to steal it, they could break in easily enough and do so. Locking the church does not protect the sculpture, but it does keep out the people.

This gave me food for thought as I headed Withersfield-wards.

St Peter, Little Thurlow, is located just to the east of the village green on the Haverhill to Newmarket road. It is kept locked, and two keyholders are listed.

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