Bell Tower - Church of St Peter, The Street, Cretingham, Suffolk, IP13 7BG - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

This parish church is Grade II* listed and was built c.1300 with much additional work in the C15th. As is quite common in Suffolk it is of knapped flint and flint rubble with ashlar dressings. It sports a slate and plain-tile roof. For a church of this age it has had little in the way of additions so is the basic nave, in-line chancel, south-west porch, and west tower.

The west tower has diagonal buttresses at the west side with panels of flushwork to the lower body, now mostly replaced with brick. A central blocked doorway has a moulded ashlar surround and hood mould and brick voussoirs. Above this is a two-light window with trefoil heads. The lancet above this has a round arched head, cusped at the level of the springing. There is a band below the belfry opening which is Perpendicular and is of two trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil to the apex. There is a string course below the battlemented parapet which has flushwork tracery panels. There is a staircase turret on the south side in the angle with the right hand angle buttress, a blocked window filled with brick to the lower body, a single-light round-arched lancet above this and similar (to the west side) belfry opening above. The north face is similar to the south save for lack of a staircase turret. There is a similar belfry opening on the remaining side which abutts the nave.

There are unusual features, an outside lean-too staircase to the former rood screen, the entrance hidden behind the timber two-tier, Jacobean pulpit, a quite small raised and fenced sanctuary with to the left a large slate grave cover dated 1627, and some interesting wall memorials.

The font has an octagonal stem and bowl and is interesting in that it still shows some red, turquoise and black colouring from, possibly, the C18th when there was a fashion for repainting fonts.

The five bells are rung for Divine Service, weddings and other festal occasions, the ringing chamber being the ground floor of the tower. This is an old ring of five, the youngest bells having been cast in 1661, the oldest in c1416, and are hung for ringing in the English style.

Following is a table extracted from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers showing the weights in kg, and sounding note of the bells.

              Bell    Weight     Note       Casting date         Founder
                1     174.63 	  E 	 	1661            John Darbie
                2     201.85 	  D 	 	1661 	        John Darbie
                3     198.67 	  C# 	 	c1416 	       Richard Baxter
                4     276.69 	  B 	 	c1499 	     Brasyers of Norwich
                5     391.45 	  A 	 	c1499 	     Brasyers of Norwich

John Darbie ran his bell founding business in Ipswich from 1651 until 1691 whilst both Richard Baxter and the Braysers cast bells in Norwich, Richard Baxter from 1416 until 1457, and the Brasyers from 1377 until 1513. There was a succesion of Brasyers starting with Robert 1377 until 1435, then Richard I 1424 until 1482, and finally Richard II who cast bells from 1478 until 1513. It was he who probably cast the fourth and fifth.

The given co-ordinates are for the south porch.

Address of Tower: Church of St Peter The Street Cretingham, Suffolk UK IP13 7BG Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 5 Rate tower: Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Yes Relevant website?: Not listed

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