Church of St John Lateran, Hengrave

About

The Church of St John Lateran, Hengrave is the former parish church of Hengrave, Suffolk. In 1589 this parish was consolidated with that of adjacent Flempton, and since then it has solely been used as a place of interment for the residents of Hengrave Hall, who have ensured the church is properly maintained. The church is a Grade I listed building.

Local antiquarian Samuel Tymms described the church at a meeting of the Bury and West Suffolk Archaeological Institute held at Hengrave Hall on 22 July 1852:

"It is a small edifice with a round tower and south porch. The tower, now completely enveloped in ivy, is the oldest portion of the building, though one of the latest edifices of the kind. Its diameter is larger than is usual in these peculiar towers. The south porch, which remains nearly in its original state, was built, as an inscription over the inner doorway tells us, by the de Hemegraves, at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century, when the church was probably rebuilt by them. The embattled parapet on the south side of the church exhibits some interesting details. Upon one of the battlements are the arms in flint work of de Hemegrave, Argent, a chief indented Gules...