all saints’ church south elmham suffolk The Churches Conservation Trust 89 Fleet Street · London EC4Y 1DH Registered Charity No. 258612 PRICE: £1.50 The Churches Conservation all saints’ church Trust welcomes you to South elmham, suffolk all saints’ church south elmham, suffolk by ROY TRICKER Many years ago Christians built and set apart this place for prayer. They made their church beautiful with their skill and craftsmanship. Here they have met for worship, for children to be baptised, for couples to be married and his unspoilt corner of rural north Suffolk, known locally as ‘The Saints’ for the dead to be brought for burial. If you have time, enjoy the history, the Tcomprises six South Elmham parishes (villages where the elms grew), peace and the holiness here. Please use the prayer card and, if you like it, you each named after the patron saint of its parish church. Eastwards of these are welcome to take a folded copy with you. parishes are the four Ilketshalls, with four more ‘Saints’. What were once Although services are no longer regularly held here, this church remains seven South Elmham parishes, together with nearby Homersfield and consecrated; inspiring, teaching and ministering through its beauty and atmos - Flixton, made up an ancient deanery and township which was given in phere. It is one of more than 300 churches throughout England cared for by the late 7th century to the Bishops of Dunwich. They evangelised much The Churches Conservation Trust. The Trust was created in 1969 and was, of this part of Suffolk and subsequent Bishops of East Anglia held all the until 1994, known as the Redundant Churches Fund. Its object is to ensure that South Elmham deanery manors. The remains of the Saxon minster church, all these churches are kept in repair and cared for, in the interests of the Church which provided a nucleus of worship, study and missionary activity in the and Nation, for present and future generations. area, may still be seen in the adjoining parish of South Elmham St Cross. Please help us to care for this church. There is a box for donations or, if you It is thought that the Bishops of East Anglia transferred their centre of activ - prefer to send a gift, it will be gratefully received at the Trust’s headquarters at ity to North Elmham, in Norfolk about 750, thence to Thetford in 1075 and finally to Norwich in 1094. 89 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH (Registered Charity No. 258612). We hope that you will enjoy your visit and be encouraged to see our other The parish of South Elmham All Saints was united with its neighbour, churches. Some are in towns; some in remote country districts. Some are easy St Nicholas, in 1557 and the combined parish of South Elmham All Saints- and others hard to find but all are worth the effort. cum-St Nicholas was formed in 1737. St Nicholas’ church had been aban - doned about 1620. It stood about half a mile westwards of All Saints’ church, near the road to St Cross. It seems that a small portion of one of its walls Nearby are the Trust churches of: was visible in the 18th century, although John Kirby wrote in the 1730s BUNGAY , ST MARY HALES , ST MARGARET that it was ‘so entirely demolished that hardly any rubbish of it remains’. In the town centre 6 miles NNW of Beccles off A146 Some experts believe that the stonework of 14th and 15th century windows and Norman doorways which now adorn the grounds of the COVEHITHE , ST ANDREW HECKINGHAM , ST GREGORY former All Saints’ Rectory (these are on private property and are not open to (TOWER AND RUINS ) 7 miles NNW of Beccles off A146 7 miles S of Lowestoft off A12 and B1136 the public) and maybe also the 15th century windows, porch, etc, incorpo - rated into St Peter’s Hall, could possibly have come from St Nicholas’ church. ELLOUGH , ALL SAINTS If so, it must have been a building of considerable beauty and interest. 2 miles S of Beccles off A145 1 all saints’ church all saints’ church All Saints-cum-St Nicholas parish comprised about 1,694 acres and had a small scattered population (239 in 1831 and 195 in 1931). The secluded position of All Saints’ church, in an area containing so many small villages with small churches, was the main reason for the building’s retirement as a parish church and its vesting in what is now The Churches Conservation Trust in 1978. Its former parish is now part of the vast South Elmham and Ilketshall benefice, where eleven parish churches serve a total population of about 1,600. Repairs were carried out in 1980 under the supervision of Mr Michael Gooch RIBA, including the repointing of the tower, relaying of the chan - cel, nave and porch roofs and the recovering of the south aisle roof with stainless steel. Further structural repairs were executed in 1995 under the supervision of Mr Shawn Kholucy. Isaac Johnson’s picture of All Saints from the south c. 1818 are reproductions of the originals, whilst the two small Norman style exterior windows do not appear in Davy’s sketch of 1814, which reveals that the All Saints’ church stands in a secluded setting, beside a 17th moated farm - present large two-light windows in the style of the early 14th century house, at the end of a cul-de-sac, about one-third of a mile from the road replaced a pair of three-light 15th century Perpendicular windows. which runs from Halesworth to Flixton. Here, in a very beautiful English The south aisle , which stretches the entire length of the church, was country churchyard, a variety of plants and grasses flourish which are now added about 1300 and is lit by double windows, with ‘Y’-tracery. Most of rare in East Anglia. This churchyard is maintained by volunteers under the their stonework was renewed in 1870, when a three-light, square-headed auspices of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust as a wildlife sanctuary. It also contains window east of the porch was replaced by the present one to match the some well-carved 18th and 19th century headstones. others. The triple-light east window of the chancel is also of c. 1300; above The walls of the church are built of flint-rubble, gathered from the fields. it is a cinquefoil-headed recess. Above the lean-to roof of the aisle is a The layered masonry in the lower parts of the north wall shows that the narrow clerestory, with five single windows which were reopened in 1870, core of the nave and chancel are having been blocked up for many years. over 900 years old. Set into the The south porch was added during the 15th century. Although greatly base of the north-west corner of restored, it has attractive flint and stone chequerwork on its south face. Its the nave is a rounded Norman entrance arch is framed by a drip-stone, resting upon beautifully carved shaft and capital, maybe reused male and female corbel heads. In the stonework to the left of the western from elsewhere in the church. corbel head is a Mass dial, which was used before the days of clocks to Most of the unusual array of indicate the time to begin a service. Another may be seen about three feet windows on the north side were (0.9 metres) from the ground, to the east of the entrance. The porch shel - renewed when the building ters the south doorway of 1870 – a replica of the original Norman door - underwent a major restoration way which it replaced. 1 All Saints from the north, as drawn by in 1870. The three small late The circular western tower , now 39 /2 feet (12 metres) in height, has a 1 DE Davy in 1814 13th century upper windows long history. Its lower 24 /2 feet (7.5 metres) up to the string-course has 2 3 all saints’ church all saints’ church evidence to suggest that it could well be Saxon, although the Normans appear to have added the ancient window openings which remain, namely the single west window and three single windows lighting the chamber above, which are interspersed by smaller windows (as may also be seen in the tower at Holton St Peter). Drawings by David Elisha Davy (1814) and Isaac Johnson (published 1818) show the round tower rising almost to its f present height and then crowned by an octagonal belfry stage and an a embattled parapet. Probably in 1830s the octagonal part was removed and b the circular part received a tall, unembattled parapet. What had become c the upper stage, above the level of the nave roof, had belfry openings which d were blocked with red brick. By 1912 the tower had become very dilapidated. Its upper stage was e out of perpendicular and was encircled by an iron band in order to keep it from bulging. A faculty was granted in 1912 for its restoration, which was paid for by the rector, the Revd Horatio Millett, as a memorial to his sister Juliet who had died recently. The rubble facing was removed from the top 14 feet (4.3 metres) and was replaced. The walls were raised and a new embattled parapet formed; also four new belfry windows and two new string courses were made. A staircase turret was built and a new door - way cut for it in the west wall of the nave. The architect for this work was Plan of All Saints’ Church A Michael Durrant of Rye, Sussex.