Church of St Mary

Details

THORNHAM PARVA BULL ROAD (SOUTH SIDE) TM 17 SW 3/97 Church of St. Mary 29.7.55 GV I

Parish church. C12, chancel rebuilt, nave raised and tower added in C14. Restored 1883. Flint rubble with ashlar dressings and some brick repair. Thatched roofs. A small church with continuous nave and chancel, west tower. Short 2 stage unbuttressed square tower, offset plinth, quoining. To west a 2-light window in lower stage, cusped Y traceried segmental pointed arched head, string course to upper stage with small C19 openings with ogee heads. Pyramidal roof with finial, iron weathervane. To south lower stage has a small stair projection and a 2 stage buttress. Nave of coursed rubble, to south a C12 entrance towards west, round arch with outer shafted jambs, scallopped capitals with moulded impost blocks, roll moulded archivolt. A C12 round headed slit window and a 2-light C14 window to centre with cusped ogee headed lights, traceried square head with a hood mould, a C19 2-light window towards east with a traceried pointed arch. 2 stage buttress to chancel which has a 2-light C14 window as on nave and, towards east, a C19 Y traceried pointed arched window, hoodmoulds. East end has a large 3-light C14 pointed arched window, reticulated quatrefoil tracery, hoodmould, a trefoil above with moulded kneelers to coped gable parapet with ridge cross, 2 stage diagonal buttresses. Chancel to north has a C19 window as to south and a C19 pointed arched entrance, 2 stage buttress to nave which has a C14 2-light window as to south, king and queen mask stops to hoodmould, a simple C12 chamfered round arched entrance towards west end. Nave to north meets tower with a low buttress, quoined end reflecting height of original C12 nave. Interior: blocked C14 tower arch, pointed with hollow chamfers stopped on mask corbels, above this on nave west wall is a small round light with a deeply splayed embrasure. C12 light in nave to south also has a deeply splayed embrasure in a continuous roll mould broached at base, window to north has similarly roll moulded jambs. Nave roof is ceiled with tall ashlar pieces exposed. Tie beam ends to south at east end and rood loft and candle beam ends in north wall above a slight recess for stairs. Chancel to south has a quatrefoil piscina with a hollow moulded square head, opposite a slight recess for stairs. Chancel to south has a quatrefoil piscina with a hollow moulded square head, opposite a sedilia below window, ceiled roof with C19 cornices. Wall paintings in nave on north, south and west walls: scenes from life of St. Edmund, mid C13, vine scrolled borders, a cart with coffin and monks to north, Christ Enthroned with Virgin to north. Nave west end has an early C19 bow fronted gallery, 2 iron columnar supports, panelled frontal with heavy cornice, dogleg stairs in tower with slat balusters, moulded ramped handrail, newel post, panelled box pews, above gallery on west wall are panels of Lord's Prayer and Credo. Early C14 octagonal font to west, large base, stem moulded up to bowl which has traceried faces. Restored C15 screen to chancel, 2 bays of 2-lights each to each side, cusped and crocketed ogee tracery, brattished head. A C14 segmental headed iron bound chest in chancel, arched panels of a C17 pulpit from Stradbroke re-erected as a reredos, tester remains in tower, a C17 chair in chancel, arched panelled back. Above the reredos is the Thornham Parva Retable of c.1300, probably painted for the Dominican monastery at Thetford, a triptych with 3 scenes to each panel; central Crucifixion with Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist flanked by SS Peter and Paul, to left SS John the Baptist, Catherine and Dominic, to right SS Edmund, Margaret and Peter Martyr, each in a cusped pointed arch, spandrels have carved roses and leaf ornament, intricate gessowork backgrounds. In chancel in a case is a printed bible of c.1640. Floor slab to P. Bokenham, d.1681, and family, with arms above. Fragments of early glass in east window and in nave to south, C19 and C20 glass in nave. (Suffolk Archaeology, 1933, vol XXI, pp153-65).

Listing NGR: TM1090872644

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

279553

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History in Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, (1933)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.