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

The Parish

The parish of Withersfield forms the southwestern corner of Suffolk forming not only the border with neighbouring Cambridgeshire but also close to where Essex neighbours the county. Withersfield is located roughly 2 miles northwest of the market town of Haverhill and sits a mile north of the A1307 which links Haverhill through to Cambridge. Withersfield is a small village built largely along 3 lanes that meet at a triangular junction by the church and the crossing of the small stream that runs to its east. Like most rural communities in Suffolk the economy of Withersfield would have been underpinned by arable farming, the area has rich soils and large fields of cereals, beet and, in more recent times, oil seed dominate the area. Modern development came and went to the parish when a branch railway line from Cambridge to Haverhill skirted its southern edges but that line has been closed and largely dismantled. The tiny stream that runs by the churchyard feeds onwards southeastwards through the edges of Haverhill to join the infant Stour, the Stour forms the county boundary with Essex for most of its journey through Sudbury to the North Sea arriving between the twins ports of Harwich & Felixstowe. Withersfield's shallow valley bottoms out at 85 metres whilst the village properties rise either side to close to 110 metres, quite high for a Suffolk area, 110 metres forms a plateau for some distance in most directions with few heights much above in gentle terrain. Withersfield parish was toward the larger size of Suffolk parishes, covering just over 2,500 acres it would have supported a population of almost 650 parishioners. Even in Domesday times Withersfield was a substantial settlement, shared by Count Gilbert's son Richard & William de Warenne it assets totalled 12 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodlands and a very detailed inventory of the beasts of the land including counting the village's beehives.

The Church

St Mary's church, as already stated, sits immediately west of the small stream that runs through the village, the lane, Church Street heads westwards from that crossing. Whilst the church had its origins in the early 14th century the few traces of the Decorated style from that period are largely found in repositioned fabric used in later rebuilds and restorations, the southern aisle has a reused Decorated style windows whilst what was probably a respond now functions as a stoup. The bulk of the church as seen today is in the slightly later Perpendicular style of the period from late 14th through to 16th century. The northern aisle can be accurately dated from documented bequests of 1497 and it likely that the bulk of today's church could be attributed to the 30 years either side of that date. A major restoration of 1867, however, changed much, the chancel was rebuilt and that southern aisle was added replaced a previous southern chapel from which that Decorated style window was reused. Parking is made easier either by using the small parking bay of the houses to the east of the stream or by the widening of the verge opposite the churchyard. The churchyard is raised above road level and a concrete ramp rises up the grassy banks to a remnant flint & brick wall typical of East Anglia, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.