Ufford’s church of the Assumption is justly famous and needs little introduction in churchcrawling circles. It is one of those special churches which is not only a most handsome building in its own right but retains more of its medieval features than most, and one extraordinary piece that is of such renown it would be worth coming here to see all on its own; the fact the church is such a gem regardless makes an additional bonus!
I first came here decades ago as my interest in churches blossomed in childhood. We knew this one was worth a special trip and I remembered it accordingly (long before I took any half decent photos of course). Being so close I couldn’t resist the urge to revisit Ufford, over three decades later.
The church appears entirely of 15th century date (though clearly a church has stood on this site for much longer) and the fine west tower announces its presence as one approaches from the street. The churchyard is a green and pleasantly sheltered space (even though the trees make it hard to get an overall view of the building) and the path leads straight to the beautiful south porch, all adorned with playful flint flushwork designs. As pleasant though the exterior is however the lure of this church lies within and and is too inviting to resist.
Inside the church it is immediately clear that this light and lovely place has much of interest with medieval pews all around populated by figurative carvings, but moving from the south aisle to the nave one is confronted by what makes Ufford so famous, the font with its towering wooden canopy, reaching as high as the nave roof! The font itself is quite ordinary for Suffolk and not large, but the great wooden spire placed atop it makes it a wonder of medieval England. It is unsurprisingly the tallest in the country and a remarkable survival, it has lost the statuettes that once filled its niches (a few more recent replacements adorn it here and there) but is still crowned by the image of the pelican in piety. One has to contemplate it awhile, it dominates the narrow space of the nave like no other and is a masterpiece of medieval woodwork (to raise the cover the lower section is designed to move separately and ‘telescopically’ to cover that above, rather than raise the entire spire of wood).
There is more to see here beside the font of course, but that is the feature that steals the show here. Above it the medieval roof adorned with angels, sadly not the original figures which were last to Protestant iconoclast, the present pair of angels and winged cherubic heads being early 20th century. The fine woodwork of the nave pews would be worth a visit in their own right anywhere else with a remarkable range of figures adorning them which reward exploration and study. The chancel beyond also has a fine roof, this time adorned with painted shields depicting symbols of the Passion, and the glass in the east window appears old, though be aware that most of this is very clever early 20th century imitation.
Ufford church is one of the highlights of this part of Suffolk and shouldn’t be missed. It is happily kept open and welcoming on both occasions I visited, and normally should be outside covid-affected times.
For more on this gem of a church see its entry on the Suffolk Churches site below:-
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/Ufford.htm
