“No parish church in Suffolk is closer to Norfolk than that of Mendham, sitting as it does beside the Waveney facing across to the northern county — a neat, substantial building, aisled and clerestoried, with an upright square tower.”

— Simon Knott, Suffolk Churches, 2022

History

All Saints Church is one of the oldest places of Christian worship in Suffolk. It is believed to be among the two-and-a-half churches recorded in Mendham in the Domesday Book of 1086 — most probably the one belonging to the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. The church was formally noted in the Norwich Taxation of 1254 and again in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope Nicholas IV around 1291, confirming its importance throughout the medieval period. Scholars have suggested the site may even have origins as an Anglo-Saxon minster.

The village of Mendham is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, approximately two miles south-east of Harleston. Until the 19th century, around 25% of the parish fell within Norfolk and 75% within Suffolk, a boundary that gave the community a distinctive dual identity. The village came under Mendham Priory — a Cluniac priory cell to Castle Acre, founded by William de Huntingfield in the reign of King Stephen — until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

The 15th Century & the South Porch

By the early 15th century the church had reached broadly its present form. In 1417, Thomas Preed, the vicar, left a bequest “to the fabric of the church, that is to say the porch” — the fine, buttressed south porch with its flushwork panelling and three carved niches that visitors still admire today. Further bequests in 1455, 1458, and 1459 towards “the fabric of the new candlebeam” (the rood screen) indicate the church was substantially complete by the mid-15th century.

The Victorian Restoration

The architect Richard Phipson led a careful restoration of All Saints in the 1860s — at the same time he was working at nearby Weybread — and the chancel was completely rebuilt along its original lines around 1880. The restoration was of notably high quality, due in large part to the patronage of the lay rector, Sir Shafto Adair of Flixton Hall, whose influence extended across a number of churches in the region. His portrait, somewhat amusingly, forms a finial on the choir stalls.

Alfred Munnings — Mendham’s Famous Son

Mendham’s most celebrated parishioner was Sir Alfred Munnings KCVO PRA (1878–1959), born in the village to a local miller. He became one of England’s finest painters of horses and served as President of the Royal Academy. The village pub is named in his honour, and his memory is woven into the life of this community.

Architecture & Interior

All Saints is a substantial flint-rubble church comprising a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, west tower, and south porch. The nave and north aisle roofs are leaded; the slated chancel roof was part of the Victorian rebuilding. At the clerestory level, red brick is mixed into the flint masonry — an unusual and characterful detail. The building is partly Decorated and partly Perpendicular in style, reflecting centuries of gradual development.

The 14th-century west tower is square and embattled, with two-light belfry openings, a crenellated parapet, and crowned originally with pinnacles. It contains six bells. The 14th-century aisles feature windows with a mixture of Decorated and Perpendicular tracery. The late 15th-century clerestory has four bays of three-light windows that flood the interior with light.

The interior opens into a wide, light-filled space, the modest amount of coloured glass allowing the full scale of the building to be appreciated. The woodwork and furnishings are largely Phipson’s, of high Victorian quality, while the chancel beyond glows with the warm gold of the Ward & Hughes east window.

Planning Your Visit

All Saints Church stands in the heart of Mendham village, beside the River Waveney. The churchyard, whose western edge drops away to the river with views across to Norfolk, is a place of great beauty and quiet reflection at any time of year.