England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Herringfleet St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Herringfleet lies in the extreme northeast of Suffolk forming a stretch of the county's border, here formed by the course of the River Waveney, with neighbouring Norfolk. Herringfleet is located roughly 6 miles northwest of the port of Lowestoft and sits on the B1074 road which links Lowestoft with the Beccles to Gorleston road (the A143). Herringfleet is a sparsely populated parish with no discernible centre, a roughly pyramidal shaped set of lanes forms a boundary with the church on the west and the hall to the north, otherwise it is all scattered farms and cottages. Herringfleet's economy would have been a mixture of traditional East Anglian arable farming admixed with the exploitation of the Waveney's flood plain for grazing, thatch and wildfowling. The Waveney drains the parish northwards headed to join with the Norfolk Broadland rivers at Breydon Water and thence through the port of Great Yarmouth to the nearby North Sea. Herringfleet is sited at around 20 metres above the sea, a height which forms the highest ground within this flattish area of the county. Herringfleet parish covered around 1,200 acres so was towards the smaller end of Suffolk's scales, that acreage supporting a population of close to 200 parishioners. Whilst Herringfleet is mentioned in Domesday Book as a holding of King William its recorded asset is simply a small wood, home to a few pigs.

The Church

St Margaret's church stands in splendid isolation alongside the B1074 and facing westwards over Herringfleet Hills to the Waveney, all around is fields. The presence of a round tower is often an indication of an early church in this area and St Margaret does not disappoint, the tower is either Late Saxon or Early Norman and probably dates from the 11th century. The triangular arches support the Saxon origins. Also Norman and probably 12th century is the southern doorway whilst the chancel also retains a window of the same period. Complementing these early works is the nave which shows the lancet styled window characteristic of the 13th century Early English Gothic era. A modest Victorian restoration of 1861 added the organ gallery to the west but left much else intact. A small lay-by is cut into the verge outside the churchyard to allow safe parking for a car or two, the churchyard is shaded to the road by mature trees but once through there are no significant obstacles for the photographer.