England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Brundish St Lawrence

The Parish

The parish of Brundish lies in northeastern Suffolk roughly 3 1/2 miles southeast of the small market town of Stradbroke. Brundish sits in the form between 2 B-roads converging on the village of Dennington, the B1118 running from Stradbroke whilst the B1116 comes from Freshingfield. Brundish is a fairly distributed settlement with several small concentrations of properties, the village proper sits to the south just east of the B1118 wherein sits the parish church and some moated farmsteads, a straggle of properties line the B1118 northwestwards to the village inn where to the east of the inn sits Brundish Street, another small hamlet of settlement. The whole settlement is gathered around the headwaters of the River Alde with a mixture of farming methods in place, some pastures on the wetter ground by the river, normal Suffolk cereal fields abound and the Ordnance Survey mapping shows a concentration of orchards within the parish. Brundish is drained by the infant River Alde which head southeastwards to Snape where it forms an estuary which is diverted southwards by the considerable spit of Orford Ness before finally reaching the North Sea. Brundish is sited between 50 & 60 metres above the sea in gentle terrain, there is no higher ground than that at Brundish Street for some considerable distance. Brundish parish was larger than the norm for its county covering just under 2,100 acres and supporting a population of close to 500 parishioners. Brundish is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Lawrence' church sits in the southern portion of the village at the junction of The Thoroughfare with Dennington Road, it sits opposite that junction on the southern side of the latter road. Whilst the church undoubtedly has its origins in the earliest times the main body of the church was largely rebuilt during the great church-building era of the Perpendicular. What is left, however, is the west tower and its tower arch. Pevsner dates the bell-opening to the early 12th century Norman Romanesque period whilst the blocked tower arch is a few decades later in the same century. The early 14th century saw the first changes to what had probably been a simple Norman structure, the piscina in the chancel is in the appropriate Decorated style as are the bell-openings on the southern face of the tower. The main body of nave and chancel are both in the Perpendicular style which Historic England place into the late 14th century, the style is also present in the flushwork fronted southern porch. The church received a typical Victorian restoration in 1880 which mainly tackled the chancel and the roofs. For visiting the church a beaten earth car park is set just into The Thoroughfare allowing for a relaxed visit. There are trees close to the east end alongside the northern face of the tower but nothing to seriously bother the photographer.