England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ampton St Peter & St Paul

The Parish

The parish of Ampton lies in northwestern Suffolk roughly 5 miles north of the town of Bury St Edmunds. Ampton sits a half mile east of the A134 road which connects Bury St Edmunds with the Norfolk town of Thetford. Ampton is a rather small village, little more than a short strip of properties lining a lane which parallels the A134, it is an estate village where a single landholder restricted inbound migration such that a normal village did not develop. Ampton sits on the western edges of Livermere Park which was enclosed in the 1730s and in a rare example of cooperation is the parkland of both Ampton, home of the Calthorpe family, and Great Livermere Halls. Ampton sits within Suffolk's share of Breckland, and area of poor sandy soils deposited in the most recent glacial period which are largely infertile, at the time of this transcript sheep and rabbits were the main "crops" but with the advent of modern machinery & fertilisers the area is now largely arable. Ampton is drained westwards by a small brook, it is landscaped in the park into a serpentine lake, which soon joins the River Lark, the Lark heads into the Fens to meet the Great Ouse wherein matters turn northwards to reach the North Sea though the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Ampton is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where land struggles just above 50 metres en route toward Thetford. Ampton parish was one of the smallest in its county at just under 750 acres and it would only have supported a population of around 150 parishioners. In Domesday times the manor was held by Bury St Edmunds Abbey and was equally small and rural offering just 6 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits on the western side of Ampton's main lane directly opposite an imposing arched gateway to the joint parkland. Whilst late-medieval in origin this is a church which has been extensively altered by Victorian restorers as to show little remaining dating detail. Despite these alterations the 13th century southern doorway, a rather severely plain affair, still survives semi-intact together with fragments of 14th century masonry in the nave. More recognisably medieval is the 15th century southern porch and the chancel roof whilst the chantry chapel at the eastern end of the nave is documented as founded in 1479, all of these features being Perpendicular in style. Two substantial phases of restoration are detailed in Pevsner, the first in 1848 being relatively light whilst the second in the late 1880s is responsible for most of today's features. New Road, which passes the church, is relatively narrow and requires careful and considerate parking. The churchyard has a typical flint wall topped by curved tiles with a wooden gate for entry, whilst bordering properties are fairly close there is just about sufficient room to get far enough away to adequately record the church with no impeding obstacles for the photographer.