St Andrew Weybread
A charming church with a notable round tower, having Saxon origins appearing in contrast to the gothic style we see it now.
There is visible ‘long and short work’ on the quoins at the NW end of the nave, this is where stones are placed in a vertical and horizontal fashion on the corner of a building where a different kind of stone such as flint is used for the rest of the wall. This suggests that there are Anglo-Saxon origins to the church or at least to the nave.
The chancel also has lancet windows, possible a little later than the Norman tower, dating from the 13th century in the perpendicular style. The nave has tall perpendicular windows made of 3-pannels and the rest of the church and porch is in the small, perpendicular style of gothic architecture. The porch itself is decorated with knapped flint in flat stone tracery between the quoins of the buttresses. You can also see fleurons (carved flowers) on different parts of the porch, and the arch itself has several lines of mouldings on the pointed arches; as well as shields on either side of the arch.
The primary distinguishing feature of this church is the round tower, dating from the Norman period. This is a reasonably plain looking tower, but visible are two rings making it a little more distinctive. Also you can see simple, deteriorating gargoyles - these are just corbels (stone carvings of faces or creatures on the side of a wall) but have a drain pipe sticking out of them. The tower also has trefoil-headed windows which are typical of the early gothic period in architecture. This now holds the slatted bell windows and have simple rounded mouldings beneath the pointed arch.
Other unique features inside the church is the large mural of Christ on the western wall of the nave, which looks very impressive through the octagonal columns creating the four-bay arcades. On the north isle is a plaque honouring a soldier from the parish who was awarded the Victoria Cross after the Crimean war. Amongst the other smaller features inside the church is the stone carved corbels at the bottom of the wooden wall beams of the Victorian roof, creating a clean and smart view when looking upwards.
This is very much a charming church, tucked away near a manor house and is a church with many intriguing features if you look closely. I highly recommend visiting Weybread church as it is the quintessential sort of picturesque church of the Suffolk landscape in a quiet village.