England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Nettlestead St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Nettlestead lies in southern Suffolk roughly 6 miles northwest of the county town of Ipswich. Nettlestead sits just over 2 miles west of the B1113 road which connects Ipswich with Needham Market along the western side of the valley of the River Gipping. Nettlestead is a tiny place and a dispersed settlement with no village, the parish was dominated by the estate of Nettlestead Chace home to the Wentworth family and who controlled much of the acreage such that inbound migration was deterred and no village developed. Nettlestead sits on rich agricultural land and like most Suffolk parishes that has lead to extensive arable fields as hedges have been grubbed up to facilitate modern machinery. Nettlestead is drained eastwards by a small tributary of the Gipping which it joins after merging with that draining nearby Somersham, the Gipping passes through Ipswich into Orwell Estuary and thus to the North Sea. Nettlestead is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside where a few higher spots just breach the 70 metre contour as the highest ground around. Nettlestead parish covered only a little over 1,000 acres and would have supported just 100 parishioners. It is, therefore, difficult to reconcile this Nettlestead with that recorded in Domesday Book where its 53 households were sufficient to place it into the top 20% of settlements recorded by population, held by Count Alan of Brittany its assets of 10 ploughs, a small meadow and a mill also belie that status being more typical of the small agricultural manor it remains to this day.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the eastern side of the narrow lane heading from Somersham northwards to Baylham, it sits by the small stream that drains the parish. St Mary has fragmentary evidence of 12th century Norman  origins, a single window in the northern wall and re-set fragments of 3 others on the western tower. That early church was greatly rebuilt during the later medieval period with most of the church standard East Anglian Perpendicular including the brick southern porch. The Victorian restoration of St Mary came relatively late in 1898 but was substantial involving a partial rebuild of nave's northern wall. Further work was required following damage during World War II, presumably from jettisoned ordinance rather than deliberate targeting, that re-work was completed by 1950. The entrance to the churchyard is set back a little from the road leaving a short access drive on which a couple of vehicles may safely park, the churchyard is compact and totally surrounded by a thick border of trees, these restrict the distance one can retreat and limit the views accordingly.