It is thought that Christians may have worshipped hereabouts for some 1000 years: a church near this site is mentioned in the
Domesday Book (1086 AD) This was
Eye Priory, located some 400m east of the present church building and 150m east of the
River Dove. The Church of Ss Peter and Paul is mainly early 14th Century with additions in the 15th Century, The oldest part of the building is the south porch, part of which possibly dates to the late 1200s. There was major restoration undertaken in 1869 by
J K Colling. Of particular note in the Colling's design of the octagonal font.
Pevsner describes the west tower as ‘one of the wonders of Suffolk’, 101 feet high with flint
flushwork from top to bottom on the west face. It is thought that the tower's construction commenced in the late 15th or early 16th century. A
dendrological survey states, "A total of ten timbers from the tower were dendrochronologically sampled, of which one sample was found to have too few rings to analyse, and one timber did not date. The remaining eight were found to form a group of timbers most likely felled at the same time, probably in the period AD 1466-c.70" The total length of the church is 120 feet 9 inches (37 metres). The Priest's door (in the south chancel wall) is unusual in that it is entered under a flying buttress. While the door remains visible from the outside, it was blocked on the inside in 1911 when the SE chapel (now named The Lady Chapel) was remodelled for "Divine Service". A plaque mounted on the south wall indicates that this was done as a memorial to Frederic Waite, "for 13.1/2 years Churchwarden of Eye Parish Church", dated Easter 1911. Of the several monuments in the church are two almost identical 16th century altar-tombs, fashioned in
Purbeck marble. One is canopied tomb at the west end of the north aisle, for Nicholas Cutler (died 1568) and Elionora Cutler,(died 1549). Elionora was daughter of
John Mynne, and English Officer of Arms. This monument was originally sited in the sanctuary but later moved to its present location blocking, what was originally, the north door into the nave (which is still visible from the outside). (Nicholas Cutler was
MP for Liverpool, 1545–47, and father of
Charles Cutler, d.1582, who was
MP for Eye) The other, also a canopied tomb, is sited at the north side of the Lady Chapel altar and commemorates
William Honnyng, who died in 1569. Honnyng had been a Parliamentarian,
Clerk of the Signet (c.1544-45), and
Clerk of the Privy Council (1543-48). In the centre of the north aisle wall is a shallow mid-14th century tomb recess within which is Lough Pendred’s 'Shrine of our Lady', carved in wood in 1973 This matches a smaller carving by Pendred of 'Our Lady and Child' which is sited in the Lady Chapel. Behind the High Altar and below the Great East Window is an intrically-carved
reredos depicting the figure of Christ, Ascending into Heaven, attended by His eleven disciples. This was erected in 1908 in memory of Major The Honourable Edward Reginald Bateman- Hanbury (1858 – 1907) by “His family and many friends”. The carving was designed by the then Vicar, Revd. John Pritchitt (incumbent 1904 – 1907). It was carved by
Hems & Sons of Exeter and constructed of
Caen stone, alabaster and marble. Both the tower and the 15th century two-storey south porch bear the arms of
John de la Pole (1442-1491) 2nd Duke of Suffolk. The tower belfry has a ring of eight bells. Two of the bells bear the inscription,
"Miles Gray made me in 1640". Inside the south porch (on the west wall) is a dole table, built of brick and with a stone top, given by Henry Cutler in 1601. Dowsing was the Parliamentary Commissioner, acting under a warrant from the
2nd Earl of Manchester, Edward Montagu. Dowsing's Journal, dated 1643/4, has the following entry:
(Journal entry no.) '266. Eaye [Eye], Aug. 30. 7 superstitious pictures in the chancel, and a cross; one was Mary Magdalen; all in the glass; and 6 in the church windows; many more had been broke down afore.' There was significant re-ordering in the 1920s and 1930s, much of it to the design of
Sir Ninian Comper, the famous church architect. His work included: • the addition of the rood-loft to the existing 14th century screen. This included the Rood Crucifix, figures of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and
St. John, two six-winged
sepaphim, and serpents (representing Evil) at the foot of the Cross (1925). • the whole sanctuary re-ordered which included the
sanctuary lamps. The sanctuary has since been further re-ordered but the original lamps have been retained. • decoration of the
Chancel roof and the 'canopy of honour' over the Rood • the design of the Great East Window. This depicts the Risen Christ flanked by St John, St Peter, St Paul and
St Polycarp. This depiction of Polycarp is relatively unusual in a window of this type; it was dedicated in memory of John Polycarp Oakey, parish priest of Eye who died in 1926. The funding for window was raised by Oakey's family and friends, as stated in the glass at the bottom of the window. The figure of St. Polycarp shows the late Revd. Oakey shielded by mantle of the Saint's
chasuble. • in 1932, Comper designed the imposing and graceful
font cover (the font being situated at the west-end of the Nave). Further archeological surveying was carried out in 2009 in preparation for re-ordering the north-east part of the building to enable the construction of the current Abbey Room (comprising toilet accommodation, a kitchen area, meeting/choir robing room). The survey "revealed six brick-lined graves, all of probable 18th or early 19th century date" == The Rood Screen ==