Mickfield: St Andrew
Overview
Grid reference: TM 134 617
The church is first seen from the north, that is, away from the entrance at the foot of the tower. The north walls of both nave and chancel are rather forbidding because of the small number of openings and the unusual height of the nave walls which, although without a parapet, conceal entirely the low-pitched roof. The nave has an angle buttress at the western corner, relieved with a little flushwork including squares and lozenges, and a buttress at right-angles to the wall at the east end. Centrally there is a similar buttress dividing the wall into two bays.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Aisleless nave, south tower; chancel.
Description of Archaeology and History
The fabric is mostly fourteenth-century with some windows inserted about a century later. There was a restoration in 1882, and the top of the tower was rebuilt in the seventeenth-century.
Exterior Description
The church is first seen from the north, that is, away from the entrance at the foot of the tower. The north walls of both nave and chancel are rather forbidding because of the small number of openings and the unusual height of the nave walls which, although without a parapet, conceal entirely the low-pitched roof. The nave has an angle buttress at the western corner, relieved with a little flushwork including squares and lozenges, and a buttress at right-angles to the wall at the east end. Centrally there is a similar buttress dividing the wall into two bays. The western bay is blank save for a simple long-blocked fourteenth-century doorway near the central buttress, and the eastern bay has a single window of two tall lights placed near the midpoint. The Perpendicular tracery has disappeared, leaving the two lights uninterrupted from sill to hoodmould.
The north wall of the chancel has a single two-light square-headed window near the west end with ogee-headed lights; the stonework is all nineteenth century. The east wall has low angle buttresses and a window with three lights terminating in elongated trefoiled heads of rather unattractive design inserted shortly before 1855. The voussoirs are partly composed of old red tiles. The kneelers of the gable are carved, that on the north nineteenth-century with foliage and that on the south a mediaeval face with bulging cheeks. At the apex only the base of a cross survives, much weathered, with small gablets in the cardinal directions. The south chancel wall has two windows on the same design as that in the north wall, and between them a fourteenth-century priests' doorway with a rather coarse hoodmould ending in worn heads; on the west jamb are two rough mass dials and the door itself is nineteenth-century.
The south nave window to the east of the tower is of three lights under a Perpendicular four-centred arch. These, like those of the north window, have lost all tracery. Although unusually placed on the south side of the church, the tower is no different in design from many of the west-end towers of Suffolk. It is of three stages, of which the lowest forms the porch to the south door. The outer doorway is of three chamfered orders with a moulded hood, and the porch has formerly been lit by small trefoiled windows in each wall, now long since blocked with red bricks.
The west wall of the nave, being unobstructed by a tower has a nineteenth-century renewal of a three- light Perpendicular window with cinquefoiled main lights and panel tracery under a hood-mould. The corners are supported by angle buttresses and the base and part of the shaft of a cross survive on the gable.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
In the north chancel window are eight quarries of foliage in grisaille, and the tracery lights also have the same; medieval.
Stained Glass
c.1860s
South chancel I: two roundels, one with the Agnus Dei and one of abstract foliage.
Stained Glass
Mid 20th Century
South chancel II: the symbols of the Four Evangelists.
Interior
Interior Description
The walls throughout the church are whitewashed which together with the lack of any complete windows of stained glass serves to counteract the effect of a small number of windows. Beside the door is a plain niche for the holy water stoup; the floor is paved with East Anglian parments and the near-flat Perpendicular roof is almost entirely nineteenth-century. The wall posts are supported on eight stone corbels carved with grotesque heads made even more sinister by dots which give staring pupils to their eyes. A small doorway to the west of the entrance leads to the stair to the upper floors of the tower; this also preserves its old door.
The chancel arch is fourteenth-century, of two chamfered orders resting upon semi-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. On the north side the wall has been cut away more as a niche for a statue than for the rood stair, it would seem from its present size. The chancel roof is supported by moulded semi-octagonal corbels and is mostly nineteenth century including mediaeval timbers also, the spaces between the principals and purlins plastered and whitewashed. The south window in the sanctuary has a low sill as sedilia and beside it is cinquefoil-headed piscina with a cinquefoil drain.
Fixtures and fittings
Font (object)
The font is octagonal with a moulded base and rim, giving the effect of a stunted pier. The plinth on the south side is coarsely chamfered off.
Organ (object)
A two-manual reed organ by Alexandre Pere et Fils.
Altar
The communion table is Jacobean, with turned legs, ornamented toprail and moulded bottom rail.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TM 134 617
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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