St Mary’s Church Halesworth

Steeple End, Halesworth, Suffolk, IP19 8LL

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St Marys’ Church sits in the heart of Halesworth town and the community it has served for centuries. It is an inviting place and a fine example of 15th Century church architecture, where all are welcome and a fascinating place to visit.

Home of the Halesworth time ball

St Mary’s beautiful flint-faced tower houses eight fine bells and is topped by a unique weather vane, supported by a time ball. This ‘maritime clock’ originally served to guide skippers sailing the local waterways to/from the coast as to the time (and therefore the tides). It is visible from relatively distant reaches of the River Blyth.

St Mary’s Church Halesworth

A Church has been here since Saxon times, but most of the building dates from 1402. There are many touching memorials to Halesworth’s lords, benefactors, heroes, pioneers and citizens over the centuries.

Don’t miss: 

  • Font – very early 15 century, supported by four wild men (‘woodwoses’) with their clubs.
  • Lady Chapel with its arch showing the arms of the Argentine family (Lords of Halesworth Manor from 1130 to 1424) and family tombs.
  • Memorial to Charles Durban, infant brother of Halesworth-born Sir Benjamin Durban (1777-1849) who was soldier and governor of the Cape Colony of South Africa. The city of Durban took his name.
  • Beautiful west and east windows.
  • Enigmatic Dane Stones, believed to be from the Saxon church which stood on the site in 1066. 
  • Broken wooden aircraft propeller memorial, 1917 RFC (Royal Flying Corps).