This round tower church stands on the very northern edge of Suffolk, at the end of a lane between Fressingfield and Harleston. The location of the bell foundry at which the church bells were made is just a few kilometres away. The church is over nine hundred years old, built in late Saxon or early Norman times. The belfry was added some 300 years later, and in the middle 1300s, the arcades were erected and the aisles built in the perpendicular style. The south porch was added in the 15th Century.
The six bells were all made at the Harleston Foundry, hung in a two tier frame, and installed in the church tower in 1879. This is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of the ringing chamber.
Weybread bells
In the north aisle is a memorial to Private Alfred Ablett, who was the first ever Suffolk man to receive the Victoria Cross. He was twenty five years old and served as a Private in the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards during the Crimea War. On 2nd September 1855 during the siege of Sebastopol, Crimea, a burning shell fell into a trench containing two cases of ammunition. Private Ablett, at once recognising the danger to which all were exposed, seized the shell in his hands and threw it over the parapet. It exploded as it hit the ground, but not a man was injured. The entry of his gallantry was in the London Gazette 24th February 1857. His VC is on display at the Grenadier Guards RHQ, Wellington Barracks, London.
On discharge from the Army, he became a Police Officer at Millwall Docks, and lived with his family at 15 Stebondale Street, Poplar, London E14 (Isle of Dogs). He died in Poplar, East London on 12th March 1897, and is buried in St Andrew's Churchyard.
