Worlington, Suffolk

All Saints, locked, keyholder listed, was the last church of the day and, despite the godawful cement render on the north side of the nave exterior, is really rather splendid. The key is in the cottage next door, so full of hope I knocked on the door and no-one was home. This is a pity because I've just looked up Simon Knott's entry and the interior looks to be full of interest - I've marked it down for a revisit.

ALL SAINTS. E.E. chancel, with one N lancet window and an E window with three stepped lancet lights under one arch. Dec W tower with a pretty W window with flowing tracery. Niches l. and r. of it. Finely moulded W doorway. Dec arcade of five bays with concave-sided octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. The sides of the piers have pointed trefoils applied to the tops. Perp aisles and clerestory. Simple nave roof, although with tie-beams alternating with hammerbeams. - ROOD BEAM. The cambered rood beam is preserved. - BENCH ENDS. Square-headed, with three stepped little arches or big flowers. - PLATE. Cup and Paten 1669.

WORLINGTON. A mile of loveliness brings us from Mildenhall to this small village, proud to have so fine a church. The tower, with a lofty arch to the nave and a handsome west door between two niches, has seen 600 harvests gathered in. The nave, with a fine south arcade and handsome pillars, is a century younger, the chancel a little older. There is an ancient roodbeam above the chancel arch, a font at which 20 generations have been baptised, a 14th century east window, a Jacobean pulpit, and splendid roofs over the nave and south aisle. Old glass glows in a few of the windows, the best being in a lancet in the chancel, and the church has much fine woodwork. There are over a dozen old benches, some perhaps the work of medieval carpenters, and under the chancel roof are embattled beams that have been here centuries. There is still a charming sanctus bellcot over the chancel, but the bell said to have rung in it long ago is now in the museum at Bury. In the belfry, however, there still hangs a bell which was ringing here 600 years ago; it is the only bell in Suffolk from the well-known Lynn foundry of Johannes Godynge.

Flickr.