England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Thwaite St George

The Parish

The parish of Thwaite lies in northern central Suffolk roughly 5 miles southwest of the small market town of Eye. Thwaite is a relatively small village sitting immediately west of the A140 road which links the city of Norwich with Ipswich. Most properties line Wickham Road or the two dead-end lane that head to north or south from it, the whole being little more than a hamlet. Like most Suffolk parishes Thwaite would have largely earned its income from arable farming, today little has changed the village being surrounded by extensive fields of mainly cereals but with beet and oil-seed also major crops. Thwaite is drained northeastwards by a small tributary of the River Waveney which is joined close to Hoxne, from there the Waveney, forming the boundary with Norfolk, heads east to reach the North Sea through the Norfolk port of Great Yarmouth. Thwaite is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in rather gentle terrain where land gradually rises southwestwards to local heights of a little over 60 metres. In a county of fairly small parishes Thwaite was one of the smaller, covering just 800 acres it would have supported around 150 parishioners. Thwaite is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St George's church was made redundant in 2007 but at the time of writing is in community use and visits are possible, key-holders are listed in the porch if access to the interior is desired. The church just consists of a nave and chancel, the former tower fell c1800 and was replaced by the simple western bellcote with the western wall being rebuilt creating the illusion of a tower never existing. Whilst there is a single lancet style window in the chancel given a date of c1200 much dating detail has been masked by later work and it is likely the church fabric largely dates from the 14th century like so many Suffolk churches. In the 16th century the brick southern porch was added but it is the Victorian era that most change occurred. Besides the work to repair the damage, that being completed in 1870, the church was "much beautified and improved" states White's Directory referring to work in the 1840s. The church occupies the corner between Wickham Road and Church Lane being open to the road with no fencing, a few trees are gathered close to the western end but do not markedly restrict the views available to the photographer.