Helmingham, Suffolk

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.