In the 1870s John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Ilketshall St Andrew as:
"Ilketshall St. Andrews, a parish in Wangford district, Suffolk; 4 miles SE of Bungay r. station. It has a postal letter box under Bungay. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich. The church has an octangular tower, and is in good condition. There is a Wesleyan chapel."[10]
St Andrew's church is a round-tower church, dating from the 12th century.[11] The church sits at a bend in School Road and has an octagonal shaped bell tower.[12] In 1810 there was a screen between the body of the church and the chancel, which was destroyed in December 2001, which revealed a series of wall paintings.[13] These paintings are similar to those found in St Botolph's, North Cove. The image depicts the theme of the 'Wheel of Fortune' and the unpredictable nature of human affairs.[14] A crowned figure is found sitting on top of a wheel rotating it, to which humankind must follow the rotation. The rotation is circular, so a downturn in human affairs must be inevitably followed by an upturn.[14]
The Wesleyan Chapel of Ilketshall St Andrew
A Methodist chapel was built in 1840 by the local Wesleyan Society,[15][16] The chapel is a Grade II listed building,[15] with a small garden at the front of the chapel.[17] Worship at the chapel has now ceased.[18]
^The exact number of round-tower churches in the county is a matter of debate. Some sources list 38,[2][3] others cite between 40 and 43.[4][5][6][7] They almost all date from the late Anglo-Saxon or early Norman periods and were mostly built between the 11th and 14th-centuries. There are around 183 round-tower churches in England, most of them in Norfolk, which has around 124, and Suffolk.[5][7] Four of the churches now in Norfolk were previously in Suffolk before boundary changes in 1974.[6]
