There and Back

The story of Wingfield , Suffolk, is the story of two powerful families; the Wingfields and the De la Poles, Earls of Suffolk. The church of St Andrew nextdoor is tied to both families. St Andrew's was begun in its present form by Sir John de Wingfield in 1362, as a collegiate church, that is, administered by a college of priests rather than placed under the care of a rector. Sir John's tomb lies within the chancel that he built, and there are later memorials to generations of Wingfields and de la Poles.  Wingfield College is now a private family home. But its history goes back over 650 years. It has kept the name of college because it is the remnant of the chantry college founded by Sir John de Wingfield in 1362. Sir John was a soldier of high reputation in the reign of Edward III, and Chief Counsellor of the Black Prince. In 1355 he accompanied him to Languedoc, and some letters of Sir John’s written during the campaign still survive as important records of the War. He ...

Helmingham Hall is a moated manor house in Helmingham, Suffolk, England. It was begun by John Tollemache in 1480 and has been owned by the Tollemache family ever since. The house is built around a courtyard in typical late medieval/Tudor style. The present Helmingham Hall may have been initially constructed in 1510 on the site of an earlier house called Creke Hall. The exterior was altered between 1745–1760, again in 1800 by John Nash, and in 1840. The original half-timbered walls have been concealed by brick and tiles.  The house is surrounded by a moat, over which it is reached only by two working drawbridges, which have been pulled up every night since 1510. These were originally operated with a windlass but in recent years this has been replaced by an electric motor.  Queen Elizabeth I is said to have twice visited Helmingham: first in 1561, and later to attend the christening of Lionel Tollemache as her godchild. Lionel Tollemache marked the first of ten consecutive...

Where shall we go today with Izobelle? Well, not far from her home is the Museum of East Anglian Life, and that is where we headed. The Museum of East Anglian Life is one of the biggest Museums in Suffolk. It occupies over 75 acres of countryside in the heart of Stowmarket. The land was originally part of the Home Farm for the Abbot’s Hall estate. The estate's history dates from medieval times when it was an outlying manor for St Osyth’s Priory in Essex. It passed through numerous owners until it was purchased by the Longe family in 1903. Huge changes in the 1950’s and ‘60s meant England was in danger of losing long established skills, equipment and buildings if something was not done to rescue them. Individual collectors, local farmer Jack Carter and the Suffolk Local History Council worked to collect, preserve and display objects from rural East Anglia. After several years of temporary exhibitions the Misses Vera and Ena Longe placed 70 acres of farmland, Abbot’s Hall, ...

The church of The Blessed Virgin Mary in Woolpit is one of the great medieval churches of Suffolk, a county blessed with some of the finest country churches in England. Like so many other Suffolk villages Woolpit owes its superb church to the wealth of the medieval wool trade, but there was a church on this spot centuries before Suffolk wool merchants gained their wealth. Woolpit became a destination for pilgrims during the medieval period, when it held a richly decorated statue of Our Lady in its own chapel. No trace of this chapel now survives but it was probably on the north side of the chancel, where the vestry now stands. Alternatively, it may have stood at the east end of the south aisle. Pilgrims began arriving at least as early as 1211 when the Bishop of Norwich ordered that their offerings be given to St Edmundsbury Abbey. The Shrine of Our Lady of Woolpit became extremely popular during the 15th and 16th centuries. Henry VI visited twice, and Queen Elizabeth of Y...

The scene that greeted us as we arrived at Dunwich Heathland to start, as it turned out, the Pirate Trail. Armed with a leaflet with the route marked, and a pen, we set off ! The heathland really looking colourful.  This was the object of our searches - a board with a clue printed on it, which had to be copied onto the leaflet ... such as this! One of the objectives of the day was for Izobelle to take her first photographs with her own camera. So lets photograph all sorts of things! Then perhaps Nana will help me fill in the clues. Then I can run onto the next clue! Then a rest while mummy tells me something I don`t quite believe! Although it was funny. These grown ups say this smells lovely, so we have a group sniff. Then mummy spotted this lovely caterpillar on the path which turned out to be an Emperor Moth or Saturnia pavonia (if you speak Latin) Then, having completed all the ...