England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Laxfield All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Laxfield lies in northeastern Suffolk roughly 8 miles southwest of the market town of Halesworth. Laxfield is a large village which sits on the winding B1117 which links Halesworth through Stradbroke and Eye to the A140, Norwich to Ipswich road. The B1117 executes a sharp tight-angled bend within the eastern part of Laxfield and most properties line the approaches to that bend, which sits by the church, for a hundred metres or so southbound but much more extensively to the west and its side roads. In an area of the county largely devoid of market towns, the larger villages such as Laxfield provided many of the services & specialist trades often associated with their larger cousins, the wider parish would have been typical Suffolk arable farmland with Laxfield the local market for exchange of such produce. Laxfield is drained eastwards by one of the headwaters of the River Blyth, the Blyth passes south of Halesworth to reach the North Sea just south of Southwold. Laxfield is sited at around 50 metres above the sea in rather gentle terrain where there is little land higher for some considerable distance. Laxfield parish was one of the county's larger in extent, covering a little over 3,600 acres it was twice that of normally sized southern rural parishes, within that area would have been supported a population of close to 1,200 parishioners, both within the village itself and also in the extensive network of farms & hamlets forming the hinterland. Laxfield was an equally populous manor in Domesday times, its population sufficient to place it amongst the largest 20% recorded in that book, the assets, however, of the manor held by Robert Malet were more modest namely 13 ploughs and some meadow & woodland.

The Church

All Saints' church sits by the sharp bend of the B1117 as High Street bends into Vicarage Road and next to and partially behind the Royal Oak inn. Churches in this part of the county were often enlarged or built on the funds of the cloth industry that pervaded the county in medieval times, once the merchants financial wealth was met their thoughts turned to their spiritual wealth and a raft of magnificent churches were financed, amongst them Laxfield All Saints. The original fabric of the church is largely a product of the 14th century beginning with the nave in a Decorated style from the beginning of the century through to the western tower as representative of the later Perpendicular elements, the tower is mentioned in will bequests semi-continuously from 1444 through to 1476. Whilst the eastern end, too, was undoubtedly also of that era it received particular attention later in life, in Georgian times both the eastern end of the nave (1825) and the chancel (1827) were almost completely rebuilt, the latter criticised by Pevsner as being "in the meanest possible style". Later work as recent as 1949 made further restoration as well as adding the vestry to the southeastern end. Internally the nave is something of a surprise being unsupported to a width of 35 feet, far wider than most parish churches achieved with long straight braces and scissor bracing. A triangular area outside the churchyard gates functions as both a church car park and also for those visiting the inn and local shops, the churchyard being separated by cast iron railings from this area. Whilst the churchyard is open and relatively uncluttered the church is both lofty and lengthy making for a challenge to encompass it all.