St Gregory's Church, Sudbury

The gateway in the churchyard of St Gregory's is the only remnant of Sudbury College and is a Grade II Listed Building.

In 1374, Simon Sudbury and his brother, John of Chertsy, founded a college, a residence for six secular canons who were priests serving the churches of St Gregory and St Peter, its chapel of ease. The college building was situated on 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land adjacent to St Gregory's churchyard, believed to have been the site of the house of Nigel Theobald, the father of Simon and John.[12] The senior canon held the office of warden of the college; one warden was William Wood, who died in 1491 and in his will left a house and endowment for the founding of Sudbury Grammar School.[13]

By 1526 the college, although still functioning, was in a state of disrepair and the canons were constantly arguing amongst themselves; the warden, who was over 80 years old, was frequently absent. In 1538, the college was dissolved and surrendered to the crown by the last warden, Richard Eden. In 1544, the king granted the college estate to Sir Thomas Paston for the sum of £1,280, although he seems never to have lived there. After passing through numerous hands, it was eventually purchased by the Borough of Sudbury for use as a workhouse and the remaining medieval fabric was demolished in 1836 to make way for a more suitable building.[14] Only the heavily restored gateway survives, standing on the west side of the churchyard; it is a Grade II listed building.[15]

The 12-foot tall 15th-century font cover.

The church is flint faced, with a bell tower at the western end, which has a stair turret to the southeast. The nave has a clerestory and a 14th-century arcade of four bays, the capitals on the south side being simpler and perhaps earlier. The large chancel has tall Perpendicular windows. A large south porch has an attached chapel on its eastern side. The brick-built vestry at the eastern end of the church dates from the early 16th century.[3]

The exceptionally tall and elaborate font cover,[16] dating from the 15th century, was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "One of the finest medieval font covers in the country".[3] The lowest section of the 12-foot (3.7 m) tall cover was adapted in the 19th century to telescope upwards, so as to avoid having to lift the whole edifice in order to use the font.[17] The choir stalls have carved heads on the arm rests and misericords under the seats. Two panels from the former rood screen have been incorporated into the stall backs, but were over-painted during the Victorian restoration; an unrestored panel displayed at the west end of the church, depicts the legend of John Schorne, the Rector of North Marston, conjuring the Devil into a boot.[3]

Tombs in the church include a stone slab believed to be the tomb of Nigel and Sara Theobald, the parents of Simon Sudbury, and another, thought to be that of Thomas Jane, the Bishop of Norwich, who was buried at St Gregory's in 1500.[9] A slab in the south aisle has an inscription in Anglo-Norman French which translates as "Here lies Seive de St. Quintin formerly the wife of Robert de St. Quintin who died in the year of Grace 1300 on the day of St. Gregory. Pray for her soul".[18]

A chest tomb for Thomas Carter, who died in 1706, has a Latin inscription that reads: "Traveller, I will relate a wondrous thing. On the day which the aforesaid Thomas Carter breathed his last, a Sudbury camel passed through the eye of a needle, if thou hast wealth, go do likewise. Farewell".[9]

The pipe organ is located in a former chapel, once dedicated to All Souls, at the east end of the north aisle.[19] Two earlier organs from St Peter's Church, Sudbury, were apparently sold on to St Gregory's; the first being by John Snetzler dating from about 1750 and installed at St Gregory's in 1841, and its replacement by Samuel Parsons was sold to St Gregory's in 1866 for £100.[20] The present organ was built and installed in 1879 by the London firm of Bishop and Son. The instrument has recently been cleaned and had the bellows restored, again by Bishop's; fund-raising is ongoing to restore a disused "clarinet" stop.[21]

The church originally had a ring of six bells; two further treble bells were added in 1785, both cast from an old bell from Sudbury Priory. The tenor bell was recast in 1774 by Pack and Chapman at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, while all the other bells were recast in 1821 by Thomas Mears, also at Whitechapel.[22] The church has an active team of bell ringers, who are currently raising funds for a complete restoration of the bells.[23]

• Boeringer, James (1989). Organa Britannica: Organs in Great Britain 1660-1860: Volume 3. Lewisburg PA: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0838750445.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Radcliffe, Enid (ed.). The Buildings of England: Suffolk. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-071020-5.
• Sperling, Charles Fredirick Denne (1896). A Short History of the Borough of Sudbury, in the County of Suffolk, compiled from materials collected by W. W. Hodson. Sudbury, Suffolk: B R Martin.