The hidden history of Little Wenham

By Laurence -
Little Wenham is a small village in Suffolk, England. It is part of the civil parish of Wenham Parva (the ancient name for Little Wenham) within Babergh district.
A village with no public roads but fortunately some rights of way. Its most famous building, Little Wenham Hall, is largely hidden from view.
To quote Sir Nikolaus Pevsner from his “The Buildings of England” series, “The house was built c.1270 - 80, probably for Sir John de Vallibus and his successor Petronilla of Nerford. It is of great historical importance for two reasons. The first is that it is built of brick, and represents one of the earliest uses of home-made brick in England. Flint is used only for the base of the walls and stone for the much rebuilt buttresses and dressings. The second point of outstanding interest is that the house is a house and not a keep. It is fortified of course, but it is in its shape and appointment on the way from the fortress to the manor house and so ranks with Stokesay and Acton Burnell of about the same years as one of the incunabula of English domestic architecture.” 


About the only view I could get of the `castle`, but perhaps at a later date I will find a way! 



Also on the site are the magnificent 16th C barn which was at one time thatched ...



... and the now redundant Church of All Saints which is under the care of the Church Conservation Trust. It`s a 13th C building whose tower and the south porch were added in the 15th century, and in the following century the tower being raised by the addition of a bell chamber.


On the south side of the sanctuary is a pre-Reformation tomb for a member of the Brewse family (it bears an earlier form of the shield across the chancel) but for whom is now unknown. However, in 1785 it was pragmatically reused for John Brewse, a descendant of Thomas Brewse of little Wenham Hall, who died in 1514 and his wife. When John Constable made an ink drawing of this in 1798, it had iron railings across it. Note the two shields with coats of arms flanking the recess.

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Location: Little Wenham, Colchester CO7 6PX, UK

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