The author describes their visit to St James church in Nayland, Suffolk, as part of anniversary celebrations for another church. They note that Suffolk has fewer chocolate box villages than expected, but Nayland is one of them. The tight site, surrounded by ancient houses, means that the church is best viewed from all sides, not just the north. The visit was made particularly poignant by the centenary of the little Catholic church of the Sacred Heart on the north-east edge of St James’s churchyard, which was once a Catholic church until the Priests were thrown out by Henry VIII and his children. St James’s is a grand and beautiful church, furnished in the Anglo-Catholic manner of the early 20th century, with Stations of the Cross set in the walls and a grand ritualist sanctuary. The church is a credit to the village and parish.
St James was a 15th-century cloth church, rebuilt on the wealth of cloth traders. There are four entrances to the church, each with its own significance. The south porch is seriously civic and entered first, followed by the west tower, the grandest William Abell’s porch at the end of the south aisle, and finally the north porch. The nave is reminiscent of that at Framlingham, with the organ high in its gallery, the recut font in the north-west corner, and solid pillars leading to a bold clerestory. The aisles spread beyond the arcades and end in fine modern chapels. The chancel is high and grand, with John Constable’s best altar piece above the stone reredos. The church also features medieval survivals such as the panels of the roodscreen, which have eight figures including St Cuthbert, St Edmund, and the Papal St Gregory. The Victorianisation of the church may be a reason why it is not on the ecclesiological tourist circuit.
The church also features brasses to the Sekyn, Hacche and Davy families, and good modern glass in the north aisle. For those interested in history, a memorial to William Jones, vicar for the last quarter of the 18th century, can be found in the vestry. Jones was influential in exploring the spiritual nature of the church and inspired John Wesley, the father of John Keble, and the young John Henry Newman. There is also a funeral bier in the south aisle, a reminder of Nayland’s importance as a place before the second industrial revolution faded it into obscurity. The author recommends climbing to the organ loft for a wonderful view of the church from above.