St Peter’s Cretingham

These days it is very common to discuss the decline in congregation numbers in rural churches, or to discuss the dilapidated state of the buildings. Whilst there is some merit in having these discussions, they often overlook the huge amount of good that takes place within smaller, often older, communities. For those of us who live in cities, who attend churches with large congregations often with professional choirs, it is important to visit more varied to church communities from time to time.

St. Peter’s Cretingham in rural Suffolk is a case in point. The 10 am service of morning prayer was attended by six people and led by a lay reader and it was a thoroughly moving experience. The church is incredibly well looked after by the Friends of Saint Peter’s who paid in 2014 for the redecoration of the church and, in 2018, installed a new bell to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the end of the First World War.

As someone heavily involved in church music, too often the meaning behind the words is ignored in the search of a perfect performance – or there is no time to contemplate the words due to the lack of rehearsal time. This service afforded me the time and mental space to reflect on the words and be still and I would heartily recommend anyone with the opportunity to visit one of these smaller services. Not only will it give fresh insight into words that are often sung without due thought, but the local congregation will be very grateful for your appearance and will almost always be generous in their questions and have interesting stories to tell.

This church itself is also amazing. The Jacobean pulpit is first to strike the eye, followed by the unusual box pews. The chancel and the lancet windows next. The hammerbeam ceiling comes last, in incredible condition and with beautiful and ornate carving. This church is a gem and luckily it is small enough to have avoided alteration in the Victorian era, or too much damage in the Reformation.