Bradfield St Clare, Suffolk

St Clare was locked but with a notice informing visitors that it is open from dawn to dusk at weekends from some date to another - I forget which dates but suspect it was summer months - which is not much good if you're visiting on a Wednesday in February, so I took exteriors and moved on to the more welcoming Cockfield.

ST CLARE. An unusual dedication. Nave, chancel, and W tower. No architectural interest, except for the roof, which has arched braces reaching high up to a collar. - BENCHES. Some simple ones, with poppy-heads. - PLATE. Cup of 1668.

BRADFIELD ST CLARE. All travellers to Italy may see St Clare, the friend of Francis of Assisi, lying in a glass case on the hilltop where she walked with him. This village is named after her*, and a farmhouse with a moat still wet round it was once St Clare Hall, a home of the monks of Bury; the church is the only one in England that bears her name. It is a gracious little place with a porch made new last century in memory of three dear old people. There is a carved oak reredos, the names in brass of five men who live for evermore, ancient timbers in the chancel roof, and windows in the 13th century walls through which we see the cornfields.

* This is nonsense - it is named after the St Clere family Lords of the manor back in the day.