Location & Contacts for St Peter's Church, Spexhall
Address & Contacts:
Address: Spexhall St Peter, Church Road, Spexhall, IP19 ORQ
Priest: Edward Rennard
Churchwardens:
Jane Held: tel: 01986 781318 mob:07771 556391 jane@held1.wanadoo.co.uk
Fred Woods: tel: 01986 781256
How to Find Us
St Peter’s Church stands one mile to the west of Stone Street, separate from most of the village, on the edge of high ground surrounded by trees. On three sides it overlooks a valley which runs south towards the river Blyth. At the west end a public footpath goes through a long thin meadow (or pytle in Suffolk vernacular) and then down one of the steepest hills in Suffolk. The view, especially in the evening, is really lovely. After you have looked around the church it makes a nice walk before leaving
The church itself is an oasis of calm peace in the Suffolk countryside. Set on its own mound, it is surrounded by trees, with a footpath through the churchyard, and is a popular stopping off place for walkers and their dogs.
We encourage people to use it as a resting place, a good place to shelter from bad weather, to eat a picnic lunch on a day out, or to just take some ‘time out’ from daily life. We are open ALL the time, 24 hours a day. See what it says about us in www.suffolkchurches.co.uk
It is a grade 2 listed parish church of random flint with a plain-tiled roof. Although we think the foundations of the church are older, the basic structure is Romanesque and dates from around 1150. Throughout the ages, St Peter's has undergone considerable repair and alteration. The interior especially shows the extent of the late Victorian restoration.
The original round tower may also have been built c1150 but could have been much older. When the foundations were laid bare during the erection of the present tower in 1911, they were declared to be "saxon" but were not properly examined or dated at the time. Whatever its original date it fell down in 1725 when it was struck by lightening. In 1911 the Calvert family of Spexhall Manor (long term benefactors of the church) and the parishioners built the new battlemented round tower, to be known as King Edward's tower in memory of Edward VIII.
The Churchyard
Spexhall churchyard is kept as a sanctuary for wild life. The first grass cutting each year does not take place until after midsummer's day when the seeds are set. This allows the wild flowers to spread freely. In spring there are snowdrops, daffodils, primroses, bluebells and cowslips and in summer it’s a mass of cow parsley. Wild Arum and Heliotrope are abundant, alongside Dogs Mercury and Ladies Bedstraw. Woundwort and Rue can also be found.
Mallards rear their ducklings on the ponds and moats of Spexhall House (the old rectory). Green and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and lots of other small birds live in the trees, squirrels in the tower and roof, bats in the tower and owls in the churchyard. Rabbits burrow under the church and hares run in the pytle beyond it. There are also small mammals (field mice, voles, rabbits) amphibians (Frogs, toads and newts), and lovely butterflies everywhere in the summer. You occasionally meet a large slow worm sunning itself on the path or, occasionally cooling itself down in the chancel! We have a large number of rare moths as well.
The rose over the porch is a "Rambling Rector" of very vigorous habit!! It gets pruned loads but still spreads its branches everywhere. The rose on the west side of the porch was planted by the schoolchildren 5 years ago.
The north side is the new graveyard and is maintained regularly by caring families many of whom have lived in the village for many years.
Sadly some families have moved away. Our records are incomplete and we do not know exactly where their relatives who died in the village during and after the second- world war are buried as they do not have headstones, although we know broadly where the graves are.