After cycling through the wilderness from Higham, around the feudal splendour of Giffords Hall and along lanes so narrow there was barely room for me to pass another bicycle, let alone a car (not that I met a car - I hadn't seen one for half an hour by the time I got here) Layham seems a most civilised place. I warmed to it immediately.

The churchyard is surrounded by gorgeous iron railings - I'm assuming that these are 19th century survivals that weren't vandalised during the Second World War. Most iron railings then were cut down, obstensibly to be turned into Spitfires, but really to make the British people feel that they were doing their bit. They were all dumped in the North Sea at the end of the War - the railings that is, not the British people.

St Andrew has little left that is medieval about it, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a lovely example of a church that was well cared for both before and during the 19th century Anglican revival. The 18th century red brick tower is most elegant, and rather better than Suffolk's only other example at Grundisburgh, which looks like a municipal water tower. This is partly helped by a late 19th century rebuilding of the parapet in the Suffolk crenellated style. The external walls of nave and chancel reveal its 14th century origins, but all the windows were also replaced by the Victorians.

The inside of the church is also most elegant, and has the feeling of being much more spacious than it actually is; heavy 19th century woodwork hasn't ruined it, and there are some splendid features.

Before we get to them, though, there is one major survival from lost Catholic England. This is the font. It is a fine example of the 13th century Purbeck Marble genre, although this one is a little unusual, because instead of being square or octagonal, it is hexagonal. The columns and stand are clearly Victorian, and I wondered if it had been reshaped at some time to fit its location.

There are other medieval survivals, including piscinas in both nave and chancel, but the overwhelming impression is of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most overwhelming of all is the elaborate reredos, and is absolutely gorgeous, and full of High Church power; Christ is seated in majesty, flanked by Andrew and John, and censing angels. Gables, pinnacles and niches rise above it, and the glass beyond is equally superb. It is as good an example as you'll find in Suffolk of the triumphalism of the Anglo-catholic movement. That movement has moved on, its tide receded, but at Layham it made its mark, and it is a good one.

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