England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Carlton Colville St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Carlton Colville lies in the extreme northeast of Suffolk, forming a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Norfolk and lying just a couple of miles from Suffolk's North Sea coast. Carlton Colville is located about 3 miles southwest of the port of Lowestoft and sits on the A146 road which connects Lowestoft with the market town of Beccles. Whilst Carlton Colville was once a discrete village it has, over the years, gradually seen Lowestoft expand until nowadays it is just the southwestern edge of a continuous built area which stretches from north to south along the coast for almost 4 miles. Carlton Colville sits on the edge of extensive grazing marshes which stretch down to the River Waveney, which forms the county border. Those marshes and their attendant resources would have led to a varied local economy, the usual arable farming being supplemented by livestock grazing, mainly cattle, on the reclaimed marshes and the typical Broadland activities of wildfowling and reed thatch harvesting by the riverside. Modern developments have come to the parish, the Lowestoft to Ipswich rail line passes through the parish but Carlton Colville has no station. The River Waveney, supplemented by extensive man-modified drainage, drains the parish the short distance to the North Sea through the Norfolk port of Great Yarmouth, a short-cut through Oulton Broad also takes much water. Carlton Colville is sited at around 10 metres above the sea, the land is nearly flat hereabouts with few contours higher for many miles. Suffolk is generally a county of relatively small parishes, Carlton Colville, whilst still quite small by northern standards, is large in extent for its area; covering close to 2,900 acres it would have supported a population of just under 800 parishioners. In Domesday times Carlton Colville was a relatively small place largely held by Earl Hugh of Chester, it could offer just 8 ploughs together with the usual meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the southern edges of Carlton Colville at the junction of Church Lane with Chapel Road. Sadly this is a church which has been much restored over the Victorian period and consequently Pevsner struggles to confidently date much of its detail. A Norman Romanesque window, albeit renewed and reused during the restorations, gives tentative indications that the origins are ancient. More confidently the basal section of the western tower shows a lancet window that appears to be original indicating that it dates from the Early English Gothic period of the 13th century. Despite the restoration work the nave and chancel show sufficient detail to indicate a date of the early 14th century and a Decorated style. The Victorian restoration, at the instigation of the then rector, was undertaken in 1883 and was almost a complete rebuild of the main body of the church. Despite sitting at a busy junction there is a broad verge for parking outside the churchyard gates, hedging forming the boundary with metal gates granting entry to a churchyard which is open, uncluttered and with no obstacles to photography.