This is the second church I visited last week, also a St Mary’s and the village is often called Preston St Mary. Another small village in narrow lanes between Stowmarket and Lavenham.
This is another church crossed off from the 100 treasures in 100 Suffolk churches book and gets a mention because of the large and beautiful porch with it’s flint flushwork dating from C16.
The church was struck by lightening in 1868 and most of the walls had to be restored with only the porch and tower as they were before
Inside the church is scaffolding for repair work on the clerestory windows. These windows hold a total of 52 heraldic shields which are a third of those collected by Robert Ryece of Preston Hall who died in 1638.
Some of the other interesting things in the church are the Norman font which is on more modern base.
Another triptych of the Royal Arms of Elizabeth I was also commissioned by Robert Ryece.
The Altar and reredos are rather fancy!
