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

The Parish

The parish of Copdock lies in southern Suffolk roughly 3 miles southwest of the county town of Ipswich. Copdock sits on the former route of the A12 road which links Ipswich with Colchester and on to London, that road now bypasses to the east. Copdock is a linear settlement which was a string of properties sitting either side of what had once been a very busy dual-carriageway highway built upon an ancient Roman road from London to Ipswich & Stowmarket. To the east of this once busy thoroughfare lies both hall and church, the hall supposedly dating from the 17th century. Like most of Suffolk this was arable farming country, good fertile and easily worked soils made cereal growing the main economic factor, besides servicing travellers on the main road. Modern development created the new fast dual-carriageway highway routed to connect with the upgraded A14 Ipswich southern bypass and to take traffic from the East Coast ports to the main motorway network.Copdock is drained eastwards by the Belstead Brook which soon meets the start of the Orwell Estuary which takes the water to the North Sea. Copdock is sited at around 50 metres above the sea in an area where that height is remarkably consistent across a wide area of very gentle terrain. Copdock parish was relatively small covering just 954 acres and supporting a population of close to 300 parishioners. Copdock is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Peter's church sits a few hundred yards east of the old A12 and between that route & its new course, it stands together with the hall on the northern side of Church Lane. St Peter is quite typical of many Suffolk churches being almost entirely a product of the Perpendicular style and dating from the late 14th but mostly from the 15th century. The earliest portion is that of the western tower which is late 14th century and carries neat flushwork panelling on its diagonal buttresses. The main body of the church, both nave and chancel and north transept are from the 15th century. The nave is aisleless and shows delightfully tall 3-light windows showing Perpendicular style rather well. Documentary evidence from will donations date the western entrance to c1478. The turn of the 15th into 16th century saw the addition of a transept chapel and the main planked church door. Restoration came late to St Peter with the main phase of work not taking place until 1909, it made rather significant changes to the chancel, created a new northern vestry and re-purposed the former one into the organ chamber. Church Lane is narrow but the verge is widened at the western end of the site to create an often muddy space for a car or two. Metal gates grant entry to the churchyard through a band of trees, the church sits rather too close to that bank for satisfactory views from the favoured aspects but most other angles are available to the photographer.