England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Blyford All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Blyford lies in eastern Suffolk roughly 3 miles east of the market town of Halesworth. Blyford sits on the B1123 road which links Halesworth through to the A12 (Ipswich to Lowestoft) road and on the northern banks of the River Blyth. Blyford is an estate parish with no real village, a closed parish where most land was held by a single landholder who discouraged inbound migration leaving just a scatter of farms and cottages across the wider parish. Just inn, church and hall, a  16th century timber-framed house together with an impressive barn of 10 bays, define the notional centre of Blyford. The proximity of the grazing marshes alongside the Blyth gave Blyford a slightly more varied farming regime than most Suffolk parishes, away from the river, however most fields are intensely arable. Blyford sits less than 5 miles from the North Sea and the Blyth carries the drainage that short distance reaching it through the port of Southwold. Blyford is sited at below 10 metres above sea level in gentle terrain where heights of just 30 metres are the highest local points. Blyford parish was small even for a county with numerous small parishes, covering just 953 acres it would have supported a population of around 200 parishioners. Blyford in Domesday times was an equally small rural community, held by a steward, Godric, it could muster just 5 ploughs, meadows and woodland but did possess a mill, presumably upon the Blyth.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on the southern side of the B1123 directly opposite to the thatched Queen's Head Inn and close to the course of the Blyth.The church has 12th century Norman Romanesque doorways to both northern and southern faces, the latter a simple affair but the northern a richly decorated example with 2 orders of colonnettes. The remainder of the main body is a nave and chancel in one, the chancel being earlier than the nave, both probably rebuilt from 12th century originals. The chancel has a lancet window and tracery indicative of the short Transitional era and is given a tentative c1300 dating by Pevsner. By way of contrast the nave shows windows in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th or early 15th century indicating two phases of medieval rebuild. The western tower, and northern porch, is also Perpendicular and makes good use of the local flint in decorative motifs including a quatrefoil frieze and flushwork panelling, it is topped by battlements. The western tower was also the main focus of a typical Victorian restoration of 1875 when it was restored and re-seated. The Queen's Head has an extensive car park but permission should ideally be sought before it is utilised. Entrance is through metal gates between brick piers, the churchyard is rather compact and views are marred by trees so a careful choice of angles is needed to adequately record this church.