England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hemingstone St Gregory

The Parish

The parish of Hemingstone lies in the southeastern portion of central Suffolk roughly 6 miles north of the county town of Ipswich. Hemingstone sits a quarter of a mile south of the B1078 road which links Wickham Market with Needham Market. Hemingstone is a curiously dispersed settlement, hall and church stand together at its northwestern corner whilst straggles of farms and cottages mainly line a north to south running lane linking Gosbeck with Henley, there is no distinct village as such. Like most Suffolk parishes Hemingstone would have been, and still is, an arable farming parish, the good and easily worked soils and relatively dry climate supporting good yields of, mainly, cereals. The hall, itself, is the major feature of the parish, built in c1620 for, reputedly, for one William Styles using an "H" plan it has an ornate entranceway featuring Tuscan pilasters and obelisks. A small brook drains the parish westwards to reach the River Gipping to the southeast of Needham Market, the Gipping flows through Ipswich to the North Sea through the Orwell's picturesque estuary. Hemingstone is sited at around 50 metres above the sea in gently rolling terrain which rises to 68 metres eastwards at nearby Ashbocking. Hemingstone parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering almost 1,450 acres it would have supported a population of around 400 parishioners. Hemingstone's entry in Domesday Book is highly unusual, besides being shared by no fewer than 12 landholders it is claimed to be large enough to be amongst the largest 20% of settlements in the book by population, which it clearly has never been. The recorded assets, however, convey a more realistic image of the true nature of the area, 9 ploughs backed by the usual meadows and woodland are typical of a small to medium sized rural settlement.

The Church

St Gregory's church stands in splendid rural isolation accompanied by a farm and acres of open fields, it sits close to the hall at the junction of Church Lane and Bull's Road. Pevsner points immediately to the earliest feature of the church, Anglo-Saxon long-and-short work at the southwestern angle of the nave, here quoins are made of stones laid alternately upright and horizontal and are typical of stonework pre-dating the Conquest. If these features indicate an early church then they are, unfortunately, the only remaining signs of that church. The combined nave and chancel together with the unbuttressed western tower are all typical East Anglian 14th century work in a mixture of the earlier Decorated and later Perpendicular styles. A red brick porch on the northern side is the only external embellishment. The church was, of course, the subject of a typical Victorian restoration too, here in an extended phase from c1872 - 1874. White gates at opposite ends of the churchyard grant entry from either lane, that on Church Lane having a rough parking area on the verge, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.