All Saints Church, Lawshall

All Saints Church stands in the quiet Suffolk village of Lawshall, between the manor house and the primary school. Built mainly of flint with stone dressings, it has a tall west tower, nave, aisles and a 19th-century chancel. The tower rises through four stages to a castellated parapet, while the nave roofs carry carved cornices and moulded beams. Inside, a 14th-century font and a 16th-century carved chest survive from earlier centuries. The church’s long history is written in its fabric and records. Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, it was rebuilt in the 1440s with cloth-industry profits and again in the 1850s under rector Evan Baillie. Baillie spent over £3,000 of his own money to rebuild the chancel and install new windows. His successor, Barrington Mills, introduced daily services and strengthened village life. Visitors enter through a south porch rebuilt in the 1850s, its roof using reused medieval timbers. Inside, the nave arcades date from the 1440s, funded by William Hanningfield. The sanctuary floor is paved with fine Minton tiles laid in the 1850s, and the organ installed in 1907 commemorates Mills. A memorial plaque honours a Dutch airman buried in the churchyard, and the registers begin in 1558.