St Mary - Braiseworth, Suffolk - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

"New St Mary's was built in 1857 by Edward Buckton Lamb (visit link) . The medieval church, half a mile to the SE, was partly demolished at the same time, and Lamb used its 12th century nave doorways for the S doorway and the porch entrance of his new building. New St Mary's is a flint building with ashlar dressings in a neo-Romanesque style, consisting of a nave with a bell-cote on the W gable and a S porch, and a chancel with an apsidal E end. It is now a private house."

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"Braiseworth has never been big. When the Victorians rebuilt the decaying medieval church, they did so up on the top road. It was closer to the few people that there were. If they had simply tarted up the old building, there is a chance that Braiseworth would still have a parish church; little-used, no doubt, but kept in action under the kind wing of some neighbouring benefice, and still accessible as a touchstone to the past generations.

But when the Anglican Diocese set about rationalising its resources in the 1970s, the Victorian St Mary was always going to be one of the first to go. Heart-breakingly, there couldn’t be much argument about this; far more controversial was the redundancy and eventual selling off of such gems as Mickfield and Ubbeston. No Redundant Churches Fund wish-list was ever likely to include this one, so it too became a private house, and remains so to this day.

Big mistake. For in the 1970s, Victorian churches, and Victorian architects, were not fashionable. They are today, and as it turns out, this church was designed by one of the most fashionable of all, the maverick EB Lamb, most famous in Suffolk for his seriously weird rebuilding of Leiston. Here, his starting point was the Norman remains of the old church, but any inspiration that came from this was transmuted by whatever drugs he was on at the time. Pevsner describes it as 'Lamb in all his perversity', and positively purrs with pleasure.

Lamb tore down the nave of the old church, reusing the Norman doorways here. It was consecrated in 1857. It must have been a fine sight, a new church for a new age of optimism. They could not have imagined that, in a little more than a century, it would all be over.

Today, the setting is thoroughly domestic, hedge-surrounded and gardened.The churchyard was never used for burials, which continued at the site of the old church."

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Date the Church was built, dedicated or cornerstone laid: 01/01/1857 Age of Church building determined by?: Other reliable source If denomination of Church is not part of the name, please provide it here: Anglican Street address of Church: St Mary Braiseworth, Suffolk England IP23 7DS If Church is open to the public, please indicate hours: Not listed If Church holds a weekly worship service and "all are welcome", please give the day of the week: Not listed Indicate the time that the primary worship service is held. List only one: Not Listed Primary website for Church or Historic Church Building: Not listed Secondary Website for Church or Historic Church Building: Not listed

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