St Ethelbert, Hessett

St Ethelbert’s is a Grade I parish church on The Street, Hessett, Suffolk, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and the parish of Beyton and Hessett.

Overview

Historic England lists a largely fifteenth-century interior with earlier fourteenth-century work in the chancel. The south porch is faced in panelled freestone, with St George and the Dragon in the entrance spandrels and three canopied image-niches above. Aisles and clerestory have a complete set of fifteenth-century three-light windows. The late-fourteenth-century chantry chapel was raised as a sacristy in the late fifteenth century; a frieze asks prayer for John Hoo (d. 1491) and his wife. The four-bay nave arcade has deeply scotia-moulded piers. The late-fifteenth-century screen survives to the rood beam with original stencilled colouring at the lower level. The listing notes a mid-fourteenth-century sacristy doorway with original plank door and ironwork, an original late-fifteenth-century ladder stair, an octagonal font, and fine fifteenth-century wall paintings including St Barbara, the Seven Deadly Sins, Christ of the Trades and St Christopher. Some fifteenth-century glass remains in window heads.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1352400
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Ethelbert
• Rougham, Beyton, Hessett and Rushbrooke