All Saints Church, South Elmham

All Saints Church stands at the end of a quiet lane beside Church Farm in the scattered village of All Saints’ South Elmham, Suffolk. It is one of about forty round-tower churches in the county and is listed Grade I for its national importance. The building occupies an isolated spot, separated from the farm by a moat that once defended the manor. All Saints began as a Saxon church in the 7th century when Felix the Burgundian, the first bishop of the East Angles, fixed his see at nearby Dunwich. By the 12th century it had grown into the present structure, with later additions in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th centuries. The church’s flint walls and lead roof enclose a continuous nave and chancel with a full-length south aisle. The round west tower once had an octagonal top, removed in 1846, and still shows Norman and medieval windows. Inside, a 14th-century arcade separates the nave from the aisle, and a 12th-century font stands on four small columns. Two 15th-century benches carved with poppyheads and animals survive from the porch, while the single-manual organ in the aisle was built in 1884 by Eustace Ingram. Visitors find a peaceful churchyard managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The east window has three lights, and the south aisle windows show Y-tracery from the 13th century. The blocked north doorway and Perpendicular tracery in the 14th-century windows mark the many phases of building and repair. The Romanesque Revival south doorway, added in the 19th century, contrasts with the medieval porch.