England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Finningham St Bartholomew

The Parish

The parish of Finningham lies in northern Suffolk roughly 8 miles north of the market town of Stowmarket and a similar distance southwest of Norfolk's market town of Diss. Finningham sits on and mainly east of the B1113 road, which links Stowmarket northwards to meet the A143 (Bury St Edmunds to Diss) road. Finningham is a mid-sized village built around an oblong of roads of which the B1113 forms the western limb, a short western extension heads west of the B1113 towards Westhorpe. Like most Suffolk parishes Finningham was and still is an arable farming parish, the soils here, formed above glacial till, are fertile and easily worked making them very suitable for cereals and modern crops such as beet & oil seed. Modern developments have come to Finningham, the Norwich to London railway line passes immediately east of the village but doesn't grant a station. Finningham is drained towards the northeast by tributaries of the infant River Dove, after passing close to Eye the Dove meets the Waveney to the north of Hoxne, continues eastwards and finally meets the North Sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Finningham is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gentle terrain which rises only gradually westwards reaching 67 metres to the southeast of Walsham le Willows. Finningham parish was towards the smaller end of the typical scale of Suffolk parishes, covering a little over 1,200 acres it would have nevertheless supported a population of around 450 parishioners. In Domesday times Finningham was shared by 3 landholders albeit the holding of Robert Blunt was notional, between Robert Malet & Bury St Edmunds Abbey's holdings the settlement could offer just 5 ploughs together with the ususal meadows & woodland.

The Church

Sr Bartholomew's occupies the geographical centre of Finningham's oblong of roads set behind properties on all four sides. St Bartholomew is a typical church of East Anglia, a mixture of the Decorated & Perpendicular styles of the 14th century. Given the distribution of these styles it is likely that the church is the product of a single phase of building begun in the first half and completed in the second half of that century and starting from west to east. The western tower is the main reference to Decorated styling, the earlier of the two, it is complimented by both southern doorways to the chancel and to the nave. The remainder of the southern side and the entire northern side come from the later Perpendicular period. The church is a relatively plain & simple piece with only the southern porch worthy of Pevsner terming it "ornate". Like most churches all remained the same until the Victorian era when a series of restoration throughout the 1880s paid particular attention to the chancel but restored most parts. The church is usually approached from Church Green which runs eastwards from the B1113 and has a parking area, mainly for residents but polite visitors should be welcome. From Church Green, where metal gates grant entry, a tarred path leads to the church. Whilst edged with trees the churchyard has few obstacles for the photographer and most favoured aspects are readily available.