St John, Beck Row, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (Grade II, J. D. Wyatt, 1876)
St John, Beck Row, Bury St Edmunds Photo: Simon Knott SuffolkChurches.co.uk
An Anglican church in the Mildenhall Parish, St John and its settlement were a much quieter place when the church was constructed. Originally a small hamlet, Beck Row now provides accommodation to the neighbouring military base.
The church was built in 1876 to the designs of the architect J.D. Wyatt. Wyatt was assistant to the great George Gilbert Scott, and was a fine perspectivist and a distinguished architect in his own right. The exterior of the church is attractively treated, with distinctive red and white polychromatic bands in brick and flint. The interior features a C17 century pulpit removed from Mildenhall St Mary as part of a Victorian refit of that church, as well as some good historic glass. It is an impressively intact and very charming example of a high Victorian Gothic revival rural parish church.
The listing partly recognises the closeness the church holds with nearby RAF Mildenhall, and its service to those stationed at the airbase during the Second World War. A Commonwealth War Graves Commission plot was established in the churchyard during the Second World War and a Cross of Sacrifice was dedicated in 1949.
The Society is delighted the Secretary of State and Historic England have agreed to list the church at Grade II. The listing can be read here.
St John, Beck Row, Bury St Edmunds Photo: Simon Knott suffolkchurches.co.uk
