Long Melford, Suffolk
Long Melford and its history are key to that of the area. Being 4-5 miles from Belchamp Walter it would have had
influence on the happenings there.
Long Melford was used used as a base for the film crew for the filming of the 80's TV series
Lovejoy. The Bull hotel
was used to accomodate the stars and crew.
Top
Belmont House was used as an antique store where Lovejoy escapes capture through the back.
Church
The manors of Suffolk
The manors of Suffolk is a book that I found by making an Internet search and has historical background on the area
local to Belchamp Walter. The village of Belchamp Walter was the location of Felsham Hall,
where Lovejoy's Studio was set.
Long MELFORD is the largest village in extent and population in Suffolk, and acquired the affix Long by reason of it consisting
mainly of one street almost a mile long.
The name Melford was derived from the Mill ford, the site of which was where the main bridge now stands, the mill being one of
the water-mills mentioned in the survey of the parish in Domesday Book. Melford in Saxon times formed part of the great possession
of Earl Alfric, the son of Withgar or Wisgar as the name appears in the Great Survey, or Widgar as it appears in the Abbot's Chartulary. This Thane, who was styled the " famous Earl," had the custody for Queen Emma, mother of the Confessor, of the franchise of the eight hundreds and a half later known as the Liberty of St. Edmund. The Manor of Melford was given by Earl Alfric to the Abbey of St. Edmund in the time of Leofstan, who was the Abbot of that monastery from 1044 to 1065. The Chartulary of Abbot John de Norwold made in 1287 recites this grant as follows :
"Earl Alfric, son of Widgar, presented Melford to St. Edmunds as stated in the Register S.P. fol. 32 in these words:
' In the time of St. Edmund King and Confessor, and of Leofstam the Abbot, Alfric the son of Witgar the famous Earl gave
Melford to St. Edmund and gave a manor to this church and to St. Edmund, and to Leofstan the Abbot : and he conveyed to them the
induction of this church in perpetuity and bound his son Withgar to the same, so that their charter then came into the hands of the
monks.' ' This Alfric the Thane was an important character in the time of the Confessor. He was the kinsman of Alfar and of Leofgion,
a noble lady, as appears by her Testament written in Anglo-Saxon. The Collegiate Church of St. John the Baptist at Clare, afterwards
removed to Stoke by Clare, was founded by him with the consent of his son Withgar. The Honor of Clare was composed chiefly of the
great possessions of this Thane in Suffolk and Essex.
In Saxon times the lordship was held by the Abbot of St. Edmunds with 12 carucates of land.
In the Confessor's time 40 acres of this land were held by Walter of the Abbot, and there were 37 villeins, 25 bordars, 8 ploughteams
in demesne, 20 belonging to the men, 16 slaves, 50 acres of meadow, wood for 60 hogs, 2 mills, 30 beasts, 140 hogs, and 2
socmen with 80 acres of land. By the time of the Great Survey there were but 10 bordars and 2 of the ploughteams in demesne,
and 7 of those belonging to the men had disappeared; but on the other hand there were 3 rounceys, 300 sheep, 12 hives of bees and
40 forest mares additional. The above Walter also held of the Abbot one (sic) with 40 acres and 2 ploughteams. Over them the Abbot
had commendation and sac and soc and all customs, nor could they ever give or sell these lands without the Abbot's consent.
There was also a church living with 2 carucates of land, 4 villeins, 9 bordars, 2 ploughteams belonging to the Church and 2
to the men.
In Saxon times this manor was valued at 20 pounds, but at the time of the Domesday Survey at 30. It was 18 quarantenes long and I
league broad, and paid in a gelt, whoever might be the holder, 20^.' In a survey
Holy Trinity Church
This web page is based on the text of the Church guide, prepared by The Revd. Canon Christopher
Sansbury with the help of Bill Fox and David Dymond.
We suggest you start your tour standing in front of the shop at the west end (i.e. on your left as you come in).
Look down towards the altar and note the size of the church. When it was rebuilt in its present form (a process lasting
many years and completed in 1484) most of the country was in a state of economic decline, but there was a growing prosperity
among the cloth merchants, not least in East Anglia. Long Melford is a 'wool church' (perhaps it would be more accurate
to call it a 'cloth church'), built by men who used their wealth to build great
churches to the glory of God rather than spend it on private status symbols for themselves.
Housing the congregation was in many ways a secondary aim; the cloth merchants would never have thought of restricting the size of the church to the size of the expected congregation.
The church as you see was completed in 1484, the Lady Chapel in 1496, and the Clopton Chapel is from about the same date. The only part of the structure older than that is the five bays of the arcading at the west end of the nave, which are considered on architectural grounds to be about a century earlier, and perhaps the porch (of which more later). The only modern part of the structure is the tower, which dates from 1903 and was built as Long Melford's commemoration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. By any standards it is a great improvement on the brick tower built in 1725. That tower replaced the original,
which was destroyed by lightning around 1710, and the present tower was built round it.
