Originating from as early as 1258, the church of St Mary at Helmingham is the main resting place of the Tollemache family, whose family seat is nearby Helmingham Hall. The majority of the church’s construction took place in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries, with John Tollemache signing the contract for the western tower in 1488 for the sum of £30. This contract still survives at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
One of the notable features of this church is the dormer window on the south side of the church roof, which was built to accommodate a particularly large Tollemache memorial. Walking around the church you may be struck by how many of the family have died young and in tragic circumstances – five of its sons were lost in the First World War alone. However on being asked by Simon Knott of The Suffolk Churches Site if he considers his family unlucky, the present Lord Tollemache observed that he considers his family to be very lucky indeed to have had the privilege of living in the same beautiful house, and farming the same land, for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Another point of interest in the interior of the church is the biblical quotations painted on many of the walls. These are the work of John Charles Ryle, the first Anglican Bishop of Liverpool and a strong proponent of Evangelicalism in the 19th Century. As rector at Helmingham in the early part of his career, Ryle was able to command an average attendance at Sunday worship of 240 parishioners out of a total of 287 at a time when less than 20% of the population were regularly attending church in this area.
Helmingham St Mary was also featured in the 1987 Only Fools and Horses Christmas Special “The Frog’s Legacy”.
This cache is part of the Church Micro series by sadexploration.
First found by cd-oracle on 2 August 2012
|