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St Peter, Ubbeston, Suffolk

Location
(52°18′8″N, 1°24′20″E)
Ubbeston
TM 323 726
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Suffolk
now Suffolk
medieval St Peter
now St Peter
  • Ron Baxter
14 March 2006

Please use this link to cite this page - https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=14148.

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Feature Sets
Description

Ubbeston is in central E Suffolk, towards the N of the county, 5 miles SW of Halesworth, in the arable boulder-clay plateau typical of High Suffolk. The church and hall site that are all that remain of the village are sited on the rising N bank of a stream that flows eastwards to join the river Blyth at Halesworth. There is a slightly larger settlement at Ubbeston Green, 0.4 miles to the S.

The church consists of a nave with a S porch, chancel with a N vestry and a W tower. The flint nave and chancel are equally tall. The nave is 12thc., with round-headed N and S doorways; the N now blocked and visible only inside, and the S protected by a 15thc. brick porch with a battlemented parapet. Above each of these lateral doorways can be seen traces of large, blocked 12thc. windows. Three 15thc. windows have been inserted in the nave walls, two on the N and one on the S, the western N window having brick tracery. What appears to be a N buttress between the nave windows is in fact a modern chimney. An obscene relief set high on this is probably not medieval. The arch braced roof covers both nave and chancel with no chancel arch. The roof is also 15thc., much renewed. One of the chancel windows, on the S, is of brick and later than the other 15thc. windows. The priest's doorway could be ofc.1300. The modern lean-to vestry is brick. The west tower is 15thc., of brick. The diocese disposed of the church in the 1970s, and it is now a private residence and business premises, not normally accessible to visitors. The author and the CRSBI would like to express their gratitude to the owners for generously allowing access to record the 12thc. sculpture. The only Romanesque sculpture is on the S doorway.

History

Thorth held Ubbeston in Edward the Confessor's reign as a manor with three carucates of land, seven acres of meadow and woodland for 160 pigs. There was a church with three acres of land. In 1086 the manor was held by Ralph Baynard.

Former parish church, now a private house and business premises.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Comments/Opinions

The structure of the doorway and the capitals, but not the imposts or the arch decoration, is matched at nearby Cookley. Similar capitals are also seen on the S transept chapel arch and a loose stone at St Bartholomew's, Orford.

Bibliography

H. M. Cautley, Suffolk Churches and their Treasures. London 1937, 328.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Suffolk. Harmondsworth 1961, rev. E. Radcliffe 1975, 470.