The South Porch

The splendid stone-faced South Porch, for which money was left to build it in 1455-6, is a masterpiece of mediaeval stonemasons’ craft and is one of the finest in East Anglia. Exquisite design and craftsmanship of the highest quality may be enjoyed in its south face, flanked by pinnacle-crowned polygonal buttresses which are covered with niches that once held statues.

Its wide entrance arch with intricately raceried spandrels on each side — look for the shield with St Edmund’s crown and arrows on the eastern one — the three tall niches above and the carved and crested parapet (with the emblem of the Blessed Virgin Mary, containing in the design of the “M” all the letters of Maria) which crowns it, 10+ metres above the ground. A staircase turrett gives access to its upper parvise chamber and to the aisle roof. Inside is a beautiful triceron-vaulted ceiling, studded with what were intracately (but now very defaced) bosses. Figures in the gaping jaws of Hell can be deduced on one and, near the south doorway, a figure surrounded by rays — almost certainly the Blessed Virgin Mary. The grand inner entrance arch is itself adorned with canopied niches.