St Michael's Church in Framlingham, Suffolk is a Church of England church dedicated to Saint Michael. It was the burial site of the Howard family. The church was declared a Grade I listed building in 1966. History The Church of Saint Michael, Framlingham, has been built, rebuilt and added to down the ages. A surviving feature, the capitals of the chancel arch, date from the twelfth century, but the majority of the church was built in the Perpendicular style between 1350 and 1555. The roof is especially glorious with intricate fan tracery which conceal hammer beams. The roof itself dates from about 1521. Framlingham was a major seat of the Earls and Dukes of Norfolk. Vast estates of the Norman Bigods were forfeited to Edward I and Framlingham came to Thomas of Brotherton, eldest son of Edward and Margaret of France. After many other changes of inheritance, in about 1635 Sir Robert Hitcham bequeathed the Framlingham estate to Pembroke College, Cambridge, who remain Lords of the Manor to this day. The church contains many fine tombs including that of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Bells The church has a ring of 8 bells from a mixture of founders and date from between the 15th and 20th centuries. The ring was augmented to 8 with addition of 2 new trebles in 1718 cast by John Stephens of Norwich. The bells hang in oak frame made by George Day of Eye, Suffolk dating from 1892. The bells were overhauled by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough in 1990. The 1708 Thamar Organ One of the most noted features of the church is the world-famous Thamar organ. Only eight large-scale organs in total survived the English Civil War, and only three of those are Thamars. The other examples being in Gloucester Cathedral and St Nicholas's church in the hamlet of Stanford upon Avon, Northamptonshire. The painted front pipes belong to the Thamar organ first built for the church's patrons, Pembroke College, Cambridge, by Thomas Thamar in 1674 just after the Restoration (celebrated by the hatchment on the south wall); the only other painted pipes of this style are to be found in Gloucester Cathedral. The case is believed to date back to before 1630 (maybe much earlier – 1580 has been mentioned) and some of the pipework may at least pre-date the Commonwealth. In 1707 the college decided it would like a