Pakenham is just under 5 miles E of the centre of Bury St Edmunds in
rolling arable land. The village is just over half a mile long, running from
Pakenham Manor in the W to the church at the E end. The village lies in the
shallow valley that runs from Grimstone End in the N to Bartonmere in the S,
and the church stands on a promontory overlooking the village.
St Mary's is a flint aisleless cruciform church with a central tower.
The nave is 12thc., with Romanesque W and S doorways. The nave has N and S
windows towards the E, both with plate tracery of the first half of the 13thc.;
the W window is five-light Perpendicular. Only the E crossing arch is 12thc.; the other three are 19thc., as are
both transepts. The N transept now houses the organ and lavatories, and the S
was remodelled in 2002-03 as the Martin Room, a meeting area and kitchen funded
by the Kristina Martin Trust. Both transepts date from the restoration of
1849-50 by S.S. Teulon, but the S stands on the site of an earlier transept.
This had already been removed by 1822, but a drawing of that year shows its
roofline. The chancel is 13thc., with plain lancets and
16thc three-light windows on the N and S walls, and a five-light 15thc. E
window. There is a 19thc. N vestry. The tower is
square in its lower part with added buttresses, and octagonal above. The
bell-openings in the upper stage are 14thc., except for the S opening, which
dates from 1958, and there is a battlemented parapet of brick, added
c.1805. The W and S doorways and the E crossing
arch contain Romanesque
sculpture.