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The church of St Mary in Ufford, Suffolk, EnglandThe Domesday book has no record of a church in Ufford, but the villages of Bromeswell and Bredfield are shown as having two churches each. From the appearance of the north wall of the nave with its very ancient herringbone courses of ironstone from the Suffolk crag, the massive round pillar and two half pillars of Caen stone in the south aisle suggests that these were built in early Norman times around the 11th century.
Built of flint and stone the original Norman church was 33 feet long, 23 feet wide and 13 feet high to the eves with an apse at the east end. During the reign of King John, circa 1200, the chancel was added and a few years later, circa 1250, the nave was extended westward as indicated by the change from round to octagonal pillars. By around 1320 the great western arch indicates the nave had reached its present breadth and was joined to a tower at the western end. This was possibly the work of Robert de Ufford who held the Manor as a sub-tenant of Roger Bigot and whose descendants became Earls of Suffolk. A further period of building commenced around 1450 with the completion of the tower and the addition of the south porch. The clerestory must have also been added around this time. In the latter half of the 15th century all the woodwork was added by the Willoughby family: the font cover, the fine chancel roof and the rood loft . The coat of arms of Sir Christopher Willoughby, who succeeded his brother as Lord Willoughby de Earsby in 1467, is evident throughout. It is likely that his close connection with the parson is the reason for the exceptional wealth of carved woodwork. |
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Church the Vicarage
Georgian, of five bays and two storeys.Here is the elegant vicarage seen from the churchyard
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Lords and Barons
House of Ufford
Coat of Arms
House of Ufford
Lords of Ufford Barons Ufford Earls of Suffolk Blazon: Sable, a cross engrailed or. |
William Ufford
William Ufford, from a stained glass window in St Andrews church in Wimpole
On the 15th February 1382, the Earldom of Suffolk fell into abeyance on the death of William Ufford when he collapsed and died whilst climbing the stairs into Parliament. Ufford was highly regarded, he carried the royal sceptre at the coronation of ten year old Richard II, was a councillor during the king's minority and was one of Richard's men who put down the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. Three years after Ufford's death, part of the family estate and the Earldom of Suffolk passed to Michael de la Pole, William's cousin via sisters Catherine and Margaret Norwich, mother's to Pole and Ufford respectively. However, the vast majority of the Suffolk estate passed in accordance to Ufford's will to his sister Cecily, wife John Willoughby of Eresby in Lincolnshire. William's father Robert, was granted the Earldom of Suffolk in its second creation in March 1337. The family take their name from their manor in Ufford in Suffolk, it being descended through the family of Peyton. The Ufford name died along with William in 1382, their bloodline however continued through three daughters. The descendants of the de la Pole and the Willoughby families play important parts in history. Michael de la Pole's grandson William was blamed for the loss of French territories Maine and Anjou, a scapegoat who was exiled and murdered in 1450. The Willoughby's, in the form of Robert Well's, fought against Edward IV at Losecoat field in 1470 and fourteen year old Catherine Willoughbly would marry Charles Brandon. William Ufford was buried at Campsey Priory, in Campsea Ashe, Suffolk |
Cecily Ufford de Willoughby
Saint James Churchyard. Spilsby, East Lindsey District, Lincolnshire, England.
Sister and co-heiress. of William de Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, and 2nd but 1st surviving daughter of Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk, by his wife Margaret de Norwich, great aunt and heiress, of John de Norwich, 2nd Baron Norwich, and daughter of Sir Walter de Norwich, of Sculthorpe, Norfolk Cecily de Ufford married Sir John Willoughby, 3rd Lord Willoughby de Eresby, son of John Willoughby, 2nd Lord Willoughby de Eresby and Joan Rosceline, circa 1330. Children:
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