•  Helmingham, Suffolk

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Helmingham like this:

HELMINGHAM, a parish in Bosmere district, Suffolk; 4½ miles S by E of Debenham, and 7 NE of Claydon r. station. It has a post office under Stonham. Acres, 2, 438. Real property, £3, 781. Pop., 320. Houses, 62. Most of the property, with Helmingham Hall, belongs to John Tollemache, Esq. ...

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Helmingham Hall was built in the time of Henry VIII.; is a quadrangular edifice, encompassed by a moat; was visited, in 1561, by Queen Elizabeth; was recently very much improved; contains an interesting collection of manuscripts, paintings, and curiosities; and stands in a fine park of about 400 acres. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £590.* 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 J. Tollemache, Esq., are held in a handsome building, and attended by children from 6 or 8 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.

Helmingham through time

Helmingham is now part of Mid Suffolk district. Click here for graphs and data of how Mid Suffolk has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Helmingham itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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