England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Little Blakenham St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Little Blakenham lies in the southeastern portion of central Suffolk roughly 5 miles northwest of the county town of Ipswich. Little Blakenham sits about 2 miles west of the busy A14 road which links the eastern coastal ports with the nation's motorway system. Little Blakenham is a small and compact village largely built to the north of the main lane which passes through on an east/west line, a short tail runs northwest along Valley Road to the church of St Mary. Like most Suffolk parishes Little Blakenham is an arable farming parish with almost all farmed land, today, set to arable fields of cereals, beet & oil-seed. A small tributary of the River Gipping drains the parish southeastwards to shortly meet that river which, after passing through Ipswich meets the North Sea as the Orwell estuary. Little Blakenham is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where local high points rise to a spot height at 67 metres a couple of miles to its northwest. Covering just over 1,000 acres Little Blakenham is one of Suffolk's many small parishes that acreage supporting a population of close to 100 parishioners. Domesday Little Blakenham was equally small, in fact it is recorded as having zero population, its one meadow the only asset providing income for its landholder Roger D'Auberville.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the eastern side of Valley Road as it heads towards nearby Somersham. The church is a creation of the earlier medieval periods of early English Gothic, Decorated and Perpendicular and was probably built in a single campaign straddling the turn of 13th into 14th centuries. The earlier portion is the chancel which shows lancet styled windows in both its northern and eastern walls. Much of the nave, however, shows Decorated styled windows from the first half of the 14th century.  The unbuttressed western tower is a later addition from the Perpendicular period, probably still 14th century, however. The final piece of medieval is the porch from the 15th century and still Perpendicular. Various repairs in contrasting brick are noted as Tudor whilst the major restoration is typically Victorian and dates from 1868. The church's interior is marked by 13th century wall paintings some of which regrettably have been painted over. Valley Road is rather narrow with little by way of a verge, parking should be considerate to access. A gravel path rises gently to the entrance, the church being almost totally screened from road-bordering trees, once within most aspects are readily available to the photographer.