---
title: "St Mary the Virgin, East Bergholt"
description: "Located in East Bergholt, Suffolk. Built Chancel C14; chapels and south aisle mid–late C15; tower datestone 1525; north aisle and nave arcades c.1530s–40s; restored 1850s–60s. Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Grade I. Perpendicular style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Suffolk","East Bergholt","Grade I","Perpendicular","John Constable","Mary"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/east-bergholt-st-mary-virgin"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:37:06.035Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T18:58:32.067Z"
location: "East Bergholt, Suffolk"
country: "England"
county: "Suffolk"
town: "East Bergholt"
address: "The Street, East Bergholt, Suffolk, CO7 6TA"
postcode: "CO7 6TA"
built: "Chancel C14; chapels and south aisle mid–late C15; tower datestone 1525; north aisle and nave arcades c.1530s–40s; restored 1850s–60s"
architect: "T G Jackson (early C20 alterations)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Mary"]
diocese: "St Edmundsbury and Ipswich"
grade: "I"
style: "Perpendicular"
materials: "Brick and knapped flint with ashlar dressings; plain tile roofs"
website: "https://www.constablecountrychurches.co.uk/"
openingHours: "Open during daylight hours."
parish: "East Bergholt"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1193803"
gridReference: "TM 070 344"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets in church"
---

# St Mary the Virgin, East Bergholt

St Mary's is a Grade I parish church on The Street and Rectory Hill, East Bergholt, Suffolk, in Constable Country, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

## Overview

Historic England records a Perpendicular church whose chancel is fourteenth-century with fifteenth-century alterations. North and south chapels are mid-fifteenth-century; the south aisle is later fifteenth-century, incorporating a fourteenth-century south door. A 1525 datestone marks the incomplete west tower, raised only to a single stage with a passageway through. The north aisle, clerestory and nave arcades date from about the 1530s–40s. Restoration followed in the 1850s–60s, with further early-twentieth-century work by T. G. Jackson. The tower is brick and flint faced with knapped flint; the north aisle is mainly brick with septaria; roofs are plain tile.

The tower was left unfinished, traditionally after the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, who was rumoured to be financing it. The bells hang in a separately listed Grade II* wooden bell cage in the churchyard and are rung by hand rather than by rope. Interior monuments include memorials to Maria Constable, wife of John Constable, and to her grandfather Dr Rhudde. Golding and Ann Constable's tomb stands in the churchyard. Constable Country Churches is the benefice website.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1193803](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1193803)
- [Constable Country Churches](https://www.constablecountrychurches.co.uk/)