St Mary's Church, Polstead, is a Grade 1 listed medieval church in a superb natural setting, overlooking parkland and the Box valley towards Stoke by Nayland. The building incorporates Norman and Anglo-Saxon elements and building material from a nearby Roman villa. The site goes back to St Cedd's legendary preaching under the Gospel Oak, in the grounds of Polstead Hall, circa AD 653.The church has a wonderfully peaceful atmosphere which is remarked on by all who visit it. It is included in Sir Simon Jenkins' One Thousand Best English Churches.

Church Fabric

The church shows signs of development over many centuries. The existing building is thought to have originated in a small Norman church, now incorporated in the west end of the nave. A fine, well-preserved Norman arch, which appears to have been the main entrance door, is in the base of the bell tower. Romanesque brick arches on delicate stone columns flank the clerestoried nave, incorporating blocks of tufa, thought to have come from the site of a nearby Roman villa.

However, the bricks which appear to predate the standardisation of bricks in the seventeenth century, show signs of heavy restoration, perhaps even rebuilding, when extensive repair works were carried out in the late nineteenth century. An impressive perpendicular arch leads to the chancel of late perpendicular design. North and South side aisles are later additions, perhaps contemporary with the tower, which is topped up by a later stone steeple, one of only two in Suffolk. The peal of six bells was rehung in 1955.

Polstead Parochial Church Council Annual Report for 2007

Fabric, Goods and Ornaments Report for 2007-08


Sunday Services      Furnishings & Churchyard       Friends of Polstead Church

Wildflowers in Polstead Churchyard