Stradbroke is perhaps the least well-known of Suffolk's small towns. But it has a busy, independent air, with its shops, school, library and leisure centre. It reminds me of places of a similar size in France. The church is in the centre of town, a large, imposing building. The 15th century tower, with its raised stair turret, is visible from miles away.
Niches flank the west window, other windows build via a bell window to high battlements.
It is one of Suffolk's biggest towers, probably because this was the parish of the De La Poles, now sleeping peacefully at Wingfield . Simon Cotton found a bequest for a new bell in 1428, which usually followed hot on the heels of a new tower, so is probably a good date. I have to say that I was in a fairly foul mood when I arrived here, having found Syleham , Denham and Wingfield all locked against me. But All Saints was open, and I stepped into a most welcoming interior that cheered me up no end. The vicar in the second half of the 19th century was the formidable J.C. Ryle, the famous protestant evangelical.