St Mary the Virgin

The peaceful Grade I Listed church of St Mary’s, Wortham was made famous in the Victorian era when its rector, the writer Richard Cobbold, recorded all his parishioners and their dwellings in words and paintings. 

Cobbold’s work has been published in many forms, most recently in a book produced by the Friends of Wortham Church, Cobbold’s Wortham: The Portrait of a Victorian Village. 

Today St Mary’s is renowned for having the largest church round tower in Britain, built in the Anglo-Saxon period. The massive flint tower, roofless since 1789, is presently the subject of a new programme of research.

St Mary’s stands apart from its scattered village, with a peaceful graveyard through which runs the Angles Way footpath. It is ringed with mature limes planted by Reverend Cobbold and his and his wife's grave can be found, a little back from the war memorial.

Inside the church, its 12th century nave is one of the broadest in East Anglia and has side aisles and clerestory of the 14th century. The medieval font is flanked by two identical 14th century coffin lids, probably connected with the Black Death suddenly robbing the church of not one but perhaps three of its priests. A third coffin lid has been embedded in the tower’s west wall.

The pew ends have a vivid series of carvings executed in the late 19th century and there are commemorative stained glass windows, as well as vestiges of the medieval stained glass destroyed by the 17th century iconoclasts. The most recent window was commissioned to commemorate the centenary of the formation of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich in 1914.

There is a splendid Norman & Beard organ and organ case, a Victorian wheeled funeral bier, and a carved escutcheon of the Coat of Arms of William & Mary (1689-1702). There are also many fine grave slabs of the Betts family of Wortham Manor.

In 2025 the Friends are planning to unveil a remarkable discovery recently made inside the church.