Map of Chillesford
We went to Chillesford to visit the church and graveyard. My 5x Great Grandparents lived here all their married life. He was Henry Fox and was born in 1756 in Levington, Suffolk and his wife was Martha Bantoft, born in 1762 in Trimley St Martin, Suffolk. They married in 1785 in Levington and by 1787, the birth of their son John, had moved to Chillesford. Henry was a farm labourer and his brother and some of Martha’s relatives were living just down the road in Butley so this may have been why they moved. They had six children, John, Martha, Henry, Mary, John (the first John having died in 1796, Sarah and William. Henry and Martha both died within days of each other in June 1834 and were buried on the same day 28 June in St Peter’s churchyard.
When we went to Suffolk, a few years ago, we went to St Peter’s church and found that a lot of the graves were not there anymore. But, very surprisingly, we found Henry and Martha
Map of where Henry and Martha lived
Henry and Martha lived in cottages in The Street. Some photos of the Street below. I will go into more detail about their family another time in the Family History Articles Section.
St Peter’s church is set back from the The Street just on the outskirts of the village. It is a small church, as are a lot of the Suffolk village churches. Chillesford was recorded in the Domeday Book as Cesfortda and there has been a church on the site since the 11th Century but the present church was constructed in the 14th Century. The interior was renovated over the centuries, mainly in the 19th. It has a tower made of coralline crag and is one of only two churches in England made of this. The other being in Wantisden which is just down the road.
The interior is lovely and peaceful. I sat in one of the pews thinking about my relaives being baptised, married and buried here. It was a strange feeling but very peaceful.
The main feature of the interior is the window above the altar, depicting a risen Christ above meadows and fields by the artist Surinder Warboys which dates from 1990. Apparently it replaced an 19th century window by Christopher Gibbs depicting gospel scenes which was destroyed. The other window features Christ walks on Water by Edward Frampton (1865).
