A project to assemble all Suffolk church guidebooks online has been launched by the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust (SHCT) which celebrated its 50th anniversary in December 2023.

Suffolk, with Norfolk, has the greatest concentration of mediaeval churches in Europe -indeed the world – and over the years vicars, scholars and enthusiasts have documented the individual stories of these churches.  Now for the first time those histories have been painstakingly collected, scanned and uploaded as a new “Guides to Suffolk Churches Online”, hosted by the Trust.

Catholic churches St Edmunds in Bury St Edmunds and Sacred Heart in Southwold (pictured) are already included and others are invited to join it.

“The churches think it is a fantastic opportunity, that it will bring people into their churches to look around,” said Lynda Aldred, Volunteer Coordinator for the project, and chairman of The Arts Society South East Suffolk.  “We’ve got guides which were written by someone who has since died and their families have been contacted and, without question, they say it is wonderful that their memory lives on. Some of the guides are very professional but my favourite guides are the older ones with hand-drawn covers , little staple rust marks, or those that have been typed on a type-writer with a dodgy letter!”

There are already hundreds of Suffolk churches on the website and more will be added, including any denomination of church, chapel or meeting house that has a guide.

The Guides are available, without charge, via Suffolk Historic Churches Trust website:  https://shct.org.uk/guides-to-suffolk-churches