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

The Parish

The parish of Worlingworth lies in northern Suffolk roughly 5 miles northwest of the small market town of Framlingham. Worlingworth sits about 2 miles west of the B1118 road which links Framlingham with Stradbroke. Worlingworth is a staggle of a place lying along a west to east running lane from the hall at its eastern end for over 1 1/2 miles westwards to the fringes of Southolt parish, the main centre of the village sits around the inn at a junction of lanes. The hall has ancient origins with the remains of an aisled hall from c1300 lying within its Georgian facade. Like most Suffolk parishes that of Worlingworth is an arable farming parish sitting on readily worked soils and with modern machinery divided into extensive large fields growing mainly cereals. Worlingworth is drained northwards by a small stream which heads for Hoxne and the River Waveney, the Waveney holds a roughly northeastern course passing Bungay and Beccles before reaching the North Sea through the Norfolk port of Great Yarmouth. Worlingworth sits upon a plateau of land at around 60 metres above the sea with most land fluctuating little beyond between 5 and 60 metres in generally flattish terrain. Worlingworth parish covered a little over 2,200 acres which would have supported a population of around 800 parishioners, a rather surprising total given there is very little of a compact village about the parish, the whole area must have once been dense with farms. In Domesday times Worlingworth was a holding of Bury St Edmunds Abbey and was a typical rural holding offering 14 ploughs backed by small meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Mary's church sits towards the eastern end of the run of properties on the southern side of Church Street and tucked away behind fronting properties. Outwardly this is a typical late medieval Suffolk church but closer examination by Pevsner, stripping away later rebuilding reveals that the chancel dates back to the short Transitional period between Early English Gothic and Decorated with a rough date of c1300, it was extensively rebuilt in 1866 so the origins are difficult to trace now but it does show a fine east window of 4 lights. Of the rest there is little doubt as to its origins as the Perpendicular style is found almost throughout the nave and the typical western tower, of the tower there is documentary evidence of a completion in 1452 which is entirely consistent with the architecture. Similar documents also date the southern porch to 1478 and both are indicative of the wealth of the area from wool during the 15th century which saw the spurt in church-building during that century. The chancel's rebuild of 1866 was followed by a further 20th century restoration which saw the battlemented top stage of the western tower rebuilt. To the east of the short track leading to the churchyard the verge is well-worn by church visitors allowing safe on-street parking, if a little muddy at times. The churchyard is rather compact and the church placed close to the tree-covered southern edge, the optimal images are only available from the less-favoured northern aspects.