St Mary's Church, Bungay

St Mary’s Church stands in the centre of Bungay on St Mary’s Street, beside the remains of a Benedictine priory. The main building dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, though it occupies the site of an earlier Saxon church recorded in the Domesday Survey. The church is built of flint and stone in the Perpendicular style, with a nave, north and south aisles, and a tall west tower topped by four crocketted pinnacles. Inside, clustered shafts support the arcades and bosses in the roof show carved angels, a lion, two-headed eagles and a bat. The ruined priory walls stand in the churchyard to the east. The church is notable for its links to local history and legend. In 1577 lightning struck during a service and a black Hell Hound appeared, attacking worshippers before vanishing and reappearing twelve miles away at Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh. This event inspired the legend of Black Shuck, now part of Bungay’s coat of arms. The church also contains a War Memorial Chapel with a 17th-century Flemish Resurrection panel given by Rider Haggard and an 1820 ring of eight bells cast by Thomas Mears II. Visitors find a spacious interior with a large west window of intricate tracery and a dole cupboard carved with a rat near the entrance. The south aisle roof was rebuilt after a fire in 1688 and the tower was restored in 1879. The Friends of St Mary’s organise concerts and events, and the churchyard holds the remains of the priory ruins.