The new church of 1852 was larger, and aligned towards the east. A neat, pretty curved balcony cuts off all the windows halfway rather awkwardly, but must have always been intended. The walls are painted in the pastel shades familiar from non-conformist chapels elsewhere, but in a shade of restful pink which suggests, perhaps, a warm lack of fundamentalism here. Indeed, this was one of many congregational churches which became part of the new United Reformed Church in the early 1970s.

A majority of 19th century churchgoers in East Anglia were non-conformists, but the gentle middle-of-the-road theology of the United Reformed Church, and that of its near-cousins the Methodists, seems to have suffered greater losses than most in the general polarisation of Christianity between Catholicism and more fundamental Protestantism in the second half of the 20th century. Now in East Anglia most non-conformists are Baptists, although it must be said that the Methodists appear to be holding on in Lowestoft. Here, the lady on duty told me, their congregation was ageing and in decline: "the only time the church is full now is when the other churches come here on the Good Friday walk", she observed, which seemed poignant, if not inappropriate.