Snape St John the Baptist

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Snape's Grade II‹-listed Church is in the north of the village, at the A1094 crossroads.

The earliest recorded incumbent of Snape was Sir William de Rurcham whose appointment was in 1240. There have been many internal as well as external alterations and restorations since then. The most recent of significance have been the rebuilding of the East Wall in 1920 (when a stained-glass window was installed by Mary Lowndes), and the installation of a new organ together with improvements to the balcony and vestry at the millennium.

The treasure of the Church, despite some mutilation in the past, is undoubtedly the font, made c.1500 and once gilded. In his "Buildings of England: Suffolk", Nikolaus Pevsner describes "on the base a quatrefoil frieze, and inscription referring to Richard Mey and his family as donors; on the foot of the stem, small beasts crawling; against the stem, four signs of the Evangelists set diagonally, and kings and bishops placed frontally; against the bowl seven figures all holding one long scroll [and] in the eighth field the Trinity with the two donors". The font remains one of the most beautiful in the county.

Visitors are also attracted by the East Window, designed and made in 1920 by Mary Lowndes - it carries, in its lower middle panel, a representation of Snape Bridge, as it then was, with a Thames barge in the foreground.

"Mary Lowndes (1857-1929) was ... an influential leader in the Arts & Crafts movement, not only for her stained-glass work and successful studio-workshop, but also for opening doors for other women stained-glass artists. She was an active participant in the suffragette movement, acting as Chair of the Artists' Suffrage League, and creating poster art to assist the movement." - ©Wikipedia

There are not Services every Sunday at Snape, but Holy Communion is celebrated somewhere within the Benefice. They are also listed in the Benefice's "Ebb & Flow" monthly magazine, and on the noticeboard outside all our Benefice's Churches. Morning Prayer is said in Snape Church each Friday at 9:00 am.

Visitors from all over the world come to Snape Church, as the visitors' book indicates. They and those who follow them, whether local residents or holidaymakers, are most welcome to Services, private prayer or merely to enjoy the calm and peace of their surroundings, as people have for eight centuries. We hope that you feel refreshed by the serenity it offers. It is open every day during daylight hours.

To see "What's on" (and HAS been on) offered by The Friends of Snape Church, please visit

https://snapevillage.info/news-blog/?Search=FoSC