Walpole Old Chapel
Walpole, Suffolk
This grade II* listed chapel was created by local 'independents' adapting a 16th century Suffolk farmhouse to form a unique and inspiring place of worship.
The simple thatched building and its detached, round flintwork tower, with its ring of five bells, share a churchyard but appear to have always been otherwise unrelated. Such towers are often assumed to be Norman, but it is now thought that church and tower may both be of 14th century date.
Domesday Book records a previous church on the site, but no evidence of Norman work is obvious in either building.
The church has some very special treasures inside. The wonderful carved and gilded rood screen somehow escaped destruction at the Reformation, and its painted panels of the Evangelists and St Mary Magdalene are 15th century originals. Only the canopy has been restored.
The monuments in the chancel deserve a close look, both for their workmanship and for the interesting stories they reveal. The beautiful alabaster effigy of Elizabeth Coke holding her baby is especially moving; she died in childbirth in 1627.