St Mary's Church

St Mary's is the parish church of Kentford. It is a small village church rather than a grand one, and it has served the same few hundred people through eight centuries of farming, racing and rebuilding. It is used for Sunday worship, for weddings, christenings and funerals, and as a meeting place for village groups.

The building

The church is a grade II* listed building, first listed in May 1954. It is built of flint rubble, part of the north wall rendered, with dressings of clunch and limestone, parapet gables and heavy buttressing. The plan is a simple one: nave, chancel, small south porch and a low west tower that once held three bells.

Most of what you see is mid to late fourteenth century work in the Decorated style, though the chancel has an older core and there were substantial Victorian alterations.

What to look for

• Medieval wall paintings on the north wall, including traces of the Three Living and the Three Dead, a warning to the rich that was once painted in churches across the country and now survives in very few.
• Eighteenth century box pews, reckoned among the best preserved in Suffolk.
• The churchyard, which includes a Commonwealth war grave.

Services

St Mary's is part of the Kennett Valley Group of churches. Holy Communion is usually held on the third Sunday of the month at 9.15am and lasts about an hour. Children are welcome at any service. Service times do change, so please check the current pattern on A Church Near You before travelling.

Visiting

The church is open every day. There is a car park at the rear of the church. The congregation is raising funds to add a toilet and a small kitchen so the building can be used more widely by the village.

The church is not run by the Parish Council. It is looked after by its own Parochial Church Council, and the contacts below are the people to speak to about anything to do with the church itself.