St.Michael's Church, The Street, Rendham, Suffolk. IP17 2AG. - Medieval Churches on Waymarking.com

This Medieval parish church was restored in 1852 and has been awarded Grade II* listing. It is of a simple plan, nave, chancel, west tower, north porch, and north vestry. Built of random flint rubble with stone dressings, there are remains of old plaster-work on the east wall of the chancel, it has plaintiled roofs to the nave and porch, and slates to the chancel.

The tower is C15th, of four stages and has a crenellated parapet, there are diagonal buttresses to the west face, a two-light west window with a blocked niche above it, two-light Y-tracery bell chamber openings, and panelled flushwork to the parapet and buttresses. There is a ring of eight bells in the tower hung for ringing English style from the ground floor, and one clock bell, the clock face on the north side of the tower. The nave has two C15th windows (one largely original) and a blocked doorway to the south, and one two-light C15th window to the north. The simple C15th porch has a knapped flint facade and an empty niche over the doorway.

The C14th chancel has two broad lancet windows and a Priest's doorway to the south, one two-light Y-tracery window to the north and a four-light east window with intersecting tracery. Beneath the west-most south lancet is a scratch sundial minus its gnomon. The simple arch-braced nave roof is of six bays with moulded wallplates; there is no chancel arch. The interior is really quite simple, almost entirely the result of a Laudian-inspired refurbishment in the early decades of the C17th, [ mainly the use of images and the restoration of stained glass windows in churches, and the re-siting of altars from the nave to a central place at the east end ], and a major makeover in Victorian days.

The plain octagonal font is probably C19th, the bowl has plain sides with a double chamfer on its lower edge it is supported on an octagonal stem with recessed trifoil arches, all on a one-step plinth. It has a timber, carved scrolled cover made in 1966 and is placed at the west end of the south side of the nave opposite the entrance from the north porch. The good pulpit complete with backboard and tester is dated '1632 WP'; there are a set of 26 C19th box pews in the nave; the sanctuary has a simple piscina and late C19th stone reredos, the panels painted with the Lord's Prayer, Commandments and Creed. There are two sets of Royal Arms: Charles II on the north nave wall, and Victoria over the tower arch.

Words from British Listed Buildings and Simon Knott's Suffolk Churches with additions from own on site observations.

Coordinates are for the north porch entrance.

Building Materials: Stone

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