Every Picture Tells a Story     May 2019

Holy Trinity Church
Long Melford, Suffolk

Holy Trinity Church

Long Melford was an important medieval wool town with a weekly market and annual fair. The three main wool tycoons were the Cloptons of Kentwell, the Cordells of Melford Hall and the Martyns of Melford Place. All three provided money for building Holy Trinity Church.

 Holy Trinity Church is set at the top of the village by the large triangular village green. In front of it is the brick built Hospital of the Holy and Blessed Trinity erected by Sir William Cordell in 1573 as an almshouse for a warden and twelve aged men.

 Holy Trinity Church has been described as a treasure house of English medieval art and was built in the C15th on an earlier foundation by John Clopton of Kentwell Hall. The tower was built in 1903. The original tower had been destroyed by lightning and the Georgian brick and plaster replacement was felt not in keeping with rest of church. The tower was design by Bodley and built round the Georgian tower.

 From the outside it is an impressive building with flushwork tower with battlements and small spires at the corners. There is a long battlemented nave and chancel with lower, heavily buttressed side aisles and south porch. The walls are covered with flint flushwork. This was a wealthy church and it showed.

Melford Hall

Long Melford was used as a setting for the popular television series "Lovejoy", as the number of antique shops and art galleries lining the village main street attest. Melford Hall was used as the home of Lady Jane in the series.

The Hall was originally owned by the Abbot of St Edmunds, but passed to the Cordell family following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It has been the residence of the Hyde Parker family since 1768, though it is now owned by the National Trust. The Manor of Melford owned the whole village in Tudor times, and today owns the "Great Green" and the grass verges down the main street.

 

Holy Trinity Hospital

The hospital originally built as an almshouse From the start of our Melford area walk

The church Built in 1873 it housed 12 poor men, 2 women & a warden

The church The hospital still houses people in need!

The grounds of Melford Hall Gates at Melford Hall
Wall around part of Melford Hall Melford Hall on a gray day

Stained glass Everyone's favourite queen "Liz"
Can you tell which one is a door? Everyone needs a gallery fo the family photos

Beautiful rocking horse Better weather on the way out
Very stark looking for my taste Better will wall & trees included

 

Melford Hall

 

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All Photography by Philip Illingworth