Naughton, Suffolk

St Mary, open, is tucked away behind a screen of trees beside the large village green. It's charming but utterly forgettable. There are two wall painting remnants - a St Christopher and a warning against gossip [although as an amateur you're hard pressed to tell what it represents] -, a recut Norman font and that's about it. As I said, nice but dim.

ST MARY. Flint. Late C13 to early C14. On the S side a two-light window, still with plate tracery, and a cusped lancet. In the chancel E window intersected tracery. The tower arch triple-charnfered and dying into the imposts. Tie-beam roof with crown-posts and braces springing from wall-posts. - FONT. Norman. It was square and decorated with intersected arches but later made octagonal. - ORGAN. (Dated I777. LG) - BENCHES. Six C17 ends with poppy-heads. - WALL PAINTINGS. N wall. Discovered in 1953. Upper half of a large St Christopher. Also unidentified scene with two women facing each other. - PLATE. Paten 1711; Cup 1730.

NAUGHTON. The delightful village green faces its l4th century church with a sturdy flint tower, set in a churchyard screened by trees, a tall beech and a roof of yew sheltering an approach. An ancient porch with a trefoiled barge-board leads to the simple interior. There are a few old bench-ends in the nave, and an arcaded font set in a wall recess. On the chancel wall is a brass inscription in memory of William Edge, rector for 61 years of last century.

Flickr.