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

The Parish

The parish of Westhorpe lies in the northern portion of central Suffolk roughly 8 miles north of the market town of Stowmarket. Westhorpe sits just under 2 miles west of the B1113 road which connects Stowmarket through to South Lopham in Norfolk. Westhorpe is a rather linear village, its main lane heads west from Finningham and properties run from its junction with the Wyverstone lane in a run westwards for almost a half mile to the parish church. Westhorpe has a historical claim to fame as its Hall was the residence of the Dukes of Suffolk, one of whom had Mary the daughter of Henry VII as consort, sadly for us today the Hall was finally demolished in the late 18th century, its moated site remains. Like most Suffolk parishes Westhorpe was and still is primarily an arable farming parish with good fertile soils suitable for the ubiquitous cereals, over the period since this transcript hedge removal has opened the landscape but the crops remain unchanged.Westhorpe is drained eastwards by small tributaries of the River Dove which heads eventually northeast to meet the Waveney at Hoxne, the Waveney (which forms the county's border with Norfolk) takes water eastwards to the North Sea merging with Norfolk's Broadland rivers to pass through the port of Great Yarmouth. Westhorpe is sited on gently rising ground between 50 & 60 metres above the sea, few spots for some distance exceed 70 metres. Westhorpe parish was typically sized for its area covering just over 1,300 acres and supporting a population of around 250 parishioners. In Domesday Book Westhorpe was recorded as having 47 households, almost the same as today, making it large enough to sit in the top 20% of settlements in the Book by population, a barely credible result given today's small village, it was shared between 6 landholders and had collective assets of just 7 ploughs backed by meadows & woodland, hardly the asset base of a major settlement, however, and more typical of today's status.

The Church

St Margaret's church sits at the western end of the run of properties along the lane passing west to east through the village. Pevsner points to a fragment of 12th century Norman stone-work in the jamb of the southern doorway but of that early church there is no further sign due to a thorough rebuild in the 14th century when Suffolk was prosperous on the wool of sheep for the cloth trade. The rebuild largely took place in the first half of the 14th century thus we have northern aisle, chancel, arcades and western tower all in the Decorated style of that period. There was, however, a final flourish in the later Perpendicular period recorded through will donations of Elizabeth Elmham who left money in 1419 for completion of the church, thus the western tower has a Perpendicular west window, many other windows are in the same style and the church acquired a clerestory. Most of the hammerbeam roofing of the interior is similarly dated. Internally the church's parclose screen is a Decorated styled survival and important for retaining its original colouring. Two phases of Victorian and later restoration are recorded by Pevsner, the chancel being restored in 1896 and the nave & aisles following suit in 1912. The village street is of sufficient width to allow on-street parking alongside the brick walled churchyard, the church is quite well screened by trees but once passed there are views to satisfy the photographer from the favoured aspects despite many more trees around.