St Mary's Church, Hadleigh
| St Mary, Hadleigh | |
|---|---|
 Church of St Mary, Hadleigh | |
  Location in Suffolk | |
| 52°02′37″N 0°57′11″E / 52.043484°N 0.95318139°E | |
| Location | Hadleigh, Suffolk |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | http://www.stmaryshadleigh.co.uk |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Founded | c. 878–890 |
| Founder | Guthrum (reputed) |
| Dedication | Saint Mary |
| Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Designated | 26 April 1950 |
Architectural type | Norman |
| Administration | |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Diocese | St Edmundsbury and Ipswich |
| Archdeaconry | Ipswich |
| Deanery | Hadleigh |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | The Very Revd Jo Delfgou[1] |
St Mary's is an Anglican church in Hadleigh, Suffolk. It is an active parish church in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and the archdeaconry of Ipswich. Its earliest parts date from medieval times; it is a Grade I listed building.
History and architecture
[edit]The church has a late 13th-century or early 14th-century tower and 14th-century aisles. The church was almost wholly reworked in the 15th century, when the arcades were rebuilt, and the clerestory, south porch and northeast vestry added. At this time also the whole building, except for the tower, was re-fenestrated. In the 19th century and early 20th century the church was extensively restored.
The church is constructed of flint rubble with stone dressings and has leaded roofs and spire. It has an aisled nave and chancel, a western tower, a two-storey south porch and a north vestry. On 26 April 1950 the church was designated a Grade I listed building. Its listing by Historic England records the principal reasons for designation as its size, the quality of its late-medieval architecture and its interior.[2][3][4][5][6]
It has been described as "a stunning wool church". In the first half of the 15th century, the wealth of the town arose from wool cloth and the church was one of the first wool churches to be rebuilt in that period.[4][7]
Setting
[edit]St Mary's churchyard is the site of the town's "most spectacular buildings".[8] The church sits roughly at the centre, and the boundary is delineated by Church Walk. Directly opposite the church's west end stands Deanery Tower. Contemporaneous with the reconstruction of the church, the tower dates from the late 15th century and was built by William Pykenham, Archdeacon of Suffolk and rector at Hadleigh.[a][11] Pykenham intended the tower as a self-sufficient gatehouse to the parsonage which stood closer to the river. It is constructed in red brick.[8] James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner, in their Suffolk: West volume in the Buildings of England series, draw parallels with the gatehouse at Oxburgh Hall.[8] Deanery Tower is a Grade I listed building.[12]
The Guildhall or Market Hall stands to the south of the church, across from the graveyard. A timber-framed building of two and three storeys, it dates from the middle of the 15th century.[13] It also has a Grade I listing.[14] The Deanery abuts Deanery Tower and dates from the early 19th century, although the style is Tudor in emulation of the tower.[15] It is a Grade II* listed building.[16]
Gallery
[edit]-
![St. Mary's Church, Hadleigh by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1748). Commissioned by the rector, Rev. Thomas Tanner, following renovations in the 1740s. It was painted on a large 6-foot (1.8 m) canvas by the young Gainsborough, with assistance from Joshua Kirby. The boys playing marbles on a tomb allude to a similar scene in Hogarth's Industry and Idleness which was published in 1747.[17]](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/St_Mary%27s_Church%2C_Hadleigh_by_Gainsborough.jpg/120px-St_Mary%27s_Church%2C_Hadleigh_by_Gainsborough.jpg)
St. Mary's Church, Hadleigh by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1748). Commissioned by the rector, Rev. Thomas Tanner, following renovations in the 1740s. It was painted on a large 6-foot (1.8 m) canvas by the young Gainsborough, with assistance from Joshua Kirby. The boys playing marbles on a tomb allude to a similar scene in Hogarth's Industry and Idleness which was published in 1747.[17] -
St Mary's twisted spire
![St. Mary's Church, Hadleigh by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1748). Commissioned by the rector, Rev. Thomas Tanner, following renovations in the 1740s. It was painted on a large 6-foot (1.8 m) canvas by the young Gainsborough, with assistance from Joshua Kirby. The boys playing marbles on a tomb allude to a similar scene in Hogarth's Industry and Idleness which was published in 1747.[17]](/wiki/File:St_Mary%27s_Church,_Hadleigh_by_Gainsborough.jpg)
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Charles Tracy, in a paper on Pykenham prepared for the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology & History, suggests that an unidentified tomb in St Mary's may be Pykenham's own.[9][10]
References
[edit]- ^ "Hadleigh, Layham & Shelley Benefice - Timeline". Retrieved 18 May 2026.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary, Hadleigh (Grade I) (1036820)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
- ^ "Hadleigh, Layham & Shelley Benefice - The Interior". Retrieved 18 May 2026.
- ^ a b Tricker, Roy (2011). "St Mary's Church Hadleigh: Its History and Treasures" (PDF). Retrieved 18 May 2026.
- ^ "Provincial. Hadley, Suffolk". Musical News. XIV. London: Robert Cocks & Co.: 504 21 May 1898. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
- ^ "St Mary's Church – Slow Collapse or Future Renewal?". InTouch. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
- ^ "Hadleigh St Mary". angelsandpinnacles.org.uk. 2026. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ^ a b c Bettley & Pevsner 2015, p. 276.
- ^ Tracy 2007, pp. 296–299.
- ^ "Pykenham, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/98412. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Tracy 2007, pp. 272–273.
- ^ Historic England. "Deanery Tower (Grade I) (1194031)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ^ Bettley & Pevsner 2015, p. 274.
- ^ Historic England. "Hadleigh Guildhall (Grade I) (1194046)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ^ Bettley & Pevsner 2015, p. 278.
- ^ Historic England. "The Deanery, Hadleigh Tower (Grade II*) (1194061)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ^ James Hamilton (2017), "10. Go over the face very curiously", Gainsborough : A Portrait, ISBN 9781474600538
Sources
[edit]- Bettley, James; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2015). Suffolk: West. The Buildings of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-19655-9.
- Tracy, Charles (2007). "Master William Pykenham, LL.D (c. 1425-97) Scholar, Churchman, Lawyer and Gatehouse Builder" (PDF). Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History. XLI Part 3.
Further reading
[edit]- Mortlock, D. M, (2009), The Guide to Suffolk Churches, pp. 217–21
External links
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