Helmingham, Suffolk

Historical Description

Helmingham, a parish in Suffolk, 9 miles N from Ipswich, and 7 NE from Claydon station on the G.E.R. It has a post office under Stonham; money order and telegraph office, Coddenham. Acreage, 2454; population, 353. Helmingham Hall belongs to Lord Tollemache; it was built in the time of Henry VIII., is a quadrangular edifice, encompassed with a moat, was visited in 1561 by Queen Elizabeth, contains an interesting collection of manuscripts, paintings and curiosities, and stands in a fine park of about 400 acres, which is well stocked with red and fallow deer. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich; net yearly value, £360. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church was built in the time of Henry VI. and restored in 1845, has a flint tower, and contains seats of carved oak and numerous tombs of the Tollemaches. An upper school and a lower one, established and supported by the Tollemache family, are held in a handsome building, and attended by children, from six or eight parishes. A Romano-British cemetery, with indications of being from the first to the third century, was discovered by the rector in 1864 in the rectory garden, Excavations made by him in different parts of the parish appear also to show that the Romans occupied the whole area, and must have had a station here.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Helmingham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Helmingham (St. Mary))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Suffolk is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Helmingham are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Suffolk papers online:

• The Ipswich Journal
• East Suffolk Mercury and Lowestoft Weekly News
• Bury and Norwich Post
• Bury Free Press