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

The Parish

The parish of Capel St Mary lies in the extreme south of Suffolk not too far from its border with neighbouring Essex. Capel St Mary is located roughly 7 miles southwest of the county town of Ipswich and sits on and mostly west of the A12 road which links Ipswich with Colchester and onwards to London. Capel St Mary is a much grown village, early maps show twin settlement separated by fields, the main village sitting either side of the parish church and lying along a gently curving main street and a secondary settlement focussed upon the main A12 and extending westwards as far as the Methodist Chapel. Today Capel St Mary has become a commuter village with total infill between those twin settlements and a continuous urban area stretching from the A12 over a mile west to Churchford Hall. At the time of this transcript Capel St Mary was a farming village with arable dominant like so many Suffolk parishes. Modern developments have come to the parish, a branch railway line linking Hadleigh to the main East Anglian rail line has, however, closed but the A12 has been upgraded to a fast dual-carriageway highway. Capel St Mary is drained firstly southwards and then southeast by small brook which emerges into the Stour Estuary as Newmill Creek before passing between the twin ports of Felixstowe and Harwich to the North Sea. Capel St Mary is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where heights more than 50 metres are rare. Capel St Mary parish was typically sized for its area, covering just under 1,900 acres and supporting a population of close to 600 parishioners, many more today. Whilst Capel St Mary is not mentioned in Domesday Book the manor of Churchford manifest in Churchford Hall does have an entry, held by Robert Gernon it mustered just 2 ploughs, a small meadows but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits within the original main village, now the western part of the whole, on the northern side of The Street. Architecturally the church's northern wall is the most interesting feature being made up of a mixture of 12th century flin ruble intermixed with Roman bricks, perhaps scrounged from a lost villa. The chancel comes next in the sequence being early 14th century and Decorated in style, the chancel has a pretty doorway showing the style to good effect, the east window is a later replacement in the Perpendicular style and this is the predominant style shown by most other elements of the church, the southern aisle and porch and the western tower being notable. The tower once carried a spire but this was removed in 1818 giving the tower an attenuated appearance. Much else dates from a substantial restoration in modern times as the church was substantially restored in 1990, this contributed too the large brick extension to the north which is connected by a link to the northern doorway. The Street has ample parking bays for on-street parking outside the churchyard which is elevated considerable above road height, a climb of 15 shallow steps is needed to reach the gates, the drop-off to the south removes the favoured aspects and the intrusive brick edifice requires careful framing so as not to impose but otherwise most angles are available to the photographer.