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Wangford Church Roof Fund
The Church of St. Peter & St. Paul Wangford
This is the earliest photo we have of the church taken in 1844 from the south west.
How did the Church get to be here?
The answer goes back to 910 A.D. when the abbey at Cluny in Burgundy, France was founded.
Cluny Abbey in Burgundy, France
It became the Mother House to over 1000 Monasteries. Rodger Bigod came over with William the Conqueror in 1066 and he set up a priory in Thetford which be came our Mother House when the priory at Wangford was set up. As an old man in 1107 he laid the foundation stone for the new Church in Thetford and died a week later.
All that is left of St. Mary's Church Thetford
A priory was founded here by Doudo Asini from the Thetford priory.
The Cluniac Priory of Wangford was founded before 1159 as a dependency of Thetford, naturalised in 1376, and dissolved in 1540. The complement of monks ranged from three to possibly five. In 1537 the monks had been withdrawn, and the house leased as a farm. Final dispossession was effected, along with the mother house of Thetford, in 1540. The Priory buildings adjoined the south side of the Parish church. It is recorded within the church that the last remaining portions of the Priory were demolished in the late 19th century.
The Prior of Wangford (Probably the first John) was appointed by Pope Honorius III (Died in Rome 18th March 1227) in 1226 to be joint Papal Commissioner with The Great Abbot of Westminster and the Archdeacon of Sudbury in an important dispute to the tithes of The Church of Walpole. (So Wangford had quite a bit of power.)
The Black Monks of Wangford
To learn about the Cluniac Order Click here
Priers of Wangford
Prior William..........................................1216
Prior John...............................................1218
Prior William..........................................1247
Prior Reginald.........................................1275
Prior Jacobus..........................................1290
Prior Henricus.........................................1306
Prior Martin............................................1308
Prior Martinus de Rymbiaco...................1309
Prior Petrus Shepard......................1347-1364
Prior Walter............................................1402
Prior Robertus........................................1445
Prior Henry Rikingbale...........................1458
Dns. Johanns Bray...................................1512
Prior John...............................................1535
Dns. or Dnus. -- Dominus ("Lord", "Sir", or "Mr.")
John was probably the last prior at Wangford as dispossession took place in 1540.
To learn more of the history of the Priory Click this Link
This may give you an idea of how the Church looked in the 1860's.
The old tower and spire were above the site of the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin.
The small Church would still have been used for worship but with lay- preachers until it fell into disrepair. The Earls of Stradbroke rebuilt the Church where it now stands and had the memorials for the Rous family placed there. The last addition to the Church was the flood lighting in memory of the 4th.Earl & his Wife Barbara, Countess of Strabroke by their daughter Lady Penelope Gilbey.
Your help is needed to save our Church
The roof leaks, we have no heating and the fabric of the church is suffering, if something is not done soon we will have to close the church.
Click on pictures to see damage
As we are a small village with a big church, it seems that to raise the funds necessary is almost imposible so we are calling on all old Wangfordians to try and help us, so if you had family born, living or died in Wangford you qualify to be a Wangfordian.
To lose our church the very heart of the village would be a disaster, we would hate to see it end up like St. Mary's at Thetford.
We have raised over £248,734 so far but we have a long way to go to get all the money we need.
Just remember the widows mite nothing is to small.
£, $ or euros anything will do.
Any fundraising donation cheques should be made out to
Wangford Church Roof Fund and sent to;
Wangford Church Roof Fund,The Treasurer, Mr. R. Utting
21, Millfields, Wangford, Beccles, Suffolk.
NR34
UK
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