Wingfield Walks - Discover Suffolk

Introduction
The walk around Wingfield and Syleham is a
fascinating discovery of Suffolk’s past with moated
castles, secluded churches, grazed commons,
windmills and watermills.
HARLESTON
SCOLE
A143
B1118
A140
HOXNE
SYLEHAM
FRESSINGFIELD
Walk though some truly lovely countryside past the
historic Wingfield College and the glorious St Andrew’s
Church to the deceptively grand Wingfield Castle
before strolling along a peaceful causeway to the
magically lonesome St Mary’s Church.
WINGFIELD
EYE
STRADBROKE
Discover a tale that spans centuries from the de la
Poles, earls and dukes of Suffolk, whose presence
here up to the 16th century is today so evident, to the
more modern day history of cloth making and the story
of one of Britain’s largest clothing manufacturers.
From the A140, just south of Diss, follow the B1118
through Hoxne to Wingfield. Parking is available at
Wingfield Barns or at Syleham Village Hall.
Wingfield is a lovely
place to start this walk
with the café at
Wingfield Barns a
perfect rest stop at
the start or end of
your walk.
Public transport is available to Stradbrook, near
Wingfield. Visit www.suffolkonboard.com for
timetables or www.travelineeastanglia.org.uk
(0871 200 22 33) to plan your journey
Public Transport
Use O.S. Explorer Map 230 Diss and Harleston
to enjoy this walk.
Treasured Suffolk
Treasured Suffolk Walks are a series of walks based on
archaeological finds and historic sites around the
county. Each walk starts in a town or village, where you
can find local shops or pubs for refreshments. Each of
the walks can be downloaded from Suffolk County
Council’s Discover Suffolk website.
Discover many more walks and great days out in the
countryside at www.discoversuffolk.org.uk
Published by Suffolk County Council.
www.suffolk.gov.uk
Produced by Design & Print IP2 0JB 01473 260600
401-ESE-100211
Treasured Suffolk
Wingfield
& Syleham
In the footsteps
of Earls and Dukes
Treasured Suffolk
Wingfield & Syleham
Start: Wingfield, signed off the B1118 between
Hoxne and Stradbroke.
Distance: 6.5 miles (10.5km)
Terrain: Road walking, field edge and cross field paths
Duration: 3-4 hours
Refreshments: Wingfield Barns - 01379 384 505,
De La Pole Arms pub (Wingfield) - 01379 384 545
You can park at Wingfield Barns – a venue for
art, drama and music. When open there is an
excellent café/bar. It is best to check on opening
times and parking (if the car park is closed then
you can park at Syleham village hall, half way
round the route).
Wingfield College
1
In 1362 the executors of Sir John Wingfield – his widow
Dame Alianore and his brother Sir Thomas – founded a
college of priests in Wingfield church. The college
functioned as a grand chantry, praying for the souls of
Sir John, his family and friends.
The priests were installed in a house to the south of the
church on the site of the main manor of Wingfield, which
Sir John acquired in the 1350s.
The building has undergone much change since then –
tree-ring dates from the hall roof indicate building
around 1380 and remodelling around 1520. The wing
with its herringbone bracing facing the churchyard was
added around 1380-5. The greatest external change,
came in the 1790s when the medieval origins of the
building were concealed behind a classical façade. This
was done by John Rix Birch, who inherited the property
from his grandfather Samuel Jessup, but sold up in
1809 and died in 1811 in the West Indies.
Next door to the college is St Andrew’s
Church, Wingfield
2
St Andrew’s Church, Wingfield
The modest exterior of this medieval church does not
prepare you for the glories within. This is the burial
place of the de la Poles, earls and dukes of Suffolk and
their Wingfield predecessors. A recess on the north
side of the chancel contains the lone effigy of Sir John
Wingfield. A soldier, he fought beside Edward the Black
Prince at Crecy in 1346 and at Poitiers in 1356, and
from 1351 until his death in 1361 he was steward and
‘chief councillor’ to the Prince.
On the floor in front of his tomb is the indent for the
brass that commemorated his wife Dame Alianore (d.
1375). Across the chancel, set within a
high arch richly decorated with
shields and heraldic badges are
the painted wooden effigies of
Sir John’s grandson, Michael
de la Pole, 2nd Earl of
Suffolk, and his wife,
Katherine Stafford.
A soldier like his
grandfather, he died at
the siege of Harfleur in
France in 1415; his
body was shipped
back for burial at
Wingfield. His eldest
son died later the
same year at the
battle of Agincourt. The
badges around the arch
are the leopard’s head of
the de la Poles, the Stafford
knot and the wings of the
Wingfields.
On the other side of the chancel is the grandest
monument, with painted alabaster effigies of John de la
Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (d. 1492), and his royal wife,
Elizabeth of York (d. 1503/4), daughter of Richard,
Duke of York and sister of King Edward IV. Duke John
managed to survive the dangers that his close royal
connection brought, but his eldest son John died in
battle against King Henry VII at Stoke in
Nottinghamshire in 1487, his next eldest son, Edmund,
was executed by Henry VIII in 1513 and his last son,
Richard, went into exile where he unsuccessfully tried
to claim the English throne for the Yorkist line, finally
dying at the battle of Pavia in Italy in 1525. Duke John’s
head rests on a helmet with a saracen’s head crest,
and the same crest is on the funerary helmet above the
effigies. The royal marriage is proudly proclaimed in the
stained glass of the nearby east window.
Leave the church via the graveyard, following
the lane past the De La Pole Arms towards
Goulders Farm and on to Wingfield Castle.
Partly hidden behind trees, Wingfield Castle
can be seen on the eastern edge of the green.
Treasured Suffolk
Wingfield and Syleham
In the footsteps of Earls and Dukes
8
7
6
5
P
4
3
2
Map based on Ordnance Survey Copyright mapping. All rights
reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright.
P 1
0km
SCALE
1km
Suffolk County Council Licence No. 100023395 2011.
0.5mile
N
3
Wingfield Green and Wingfield Castle
Wingfield Green, is one of many large grazed commons
that appeared on the poorly-drained clay plateau of north
Suffolk around the 12th and 13th centuries.
Pre-eminent amongst the properties here is Wingfield
Castle. Originally the moated manor house of the
Wingfield family, it was upgraded into a castle in 1385
when Michael de la Pole, married to the daughter and
heiress of Sir John Wingfield, was made the Earl of
Suffolk. The castle has an impressive front, but not much
behind – in truth, it was probably always more a symbolic
castle to fit the status of an earl than an effective fortress.
The castle was confiscated from the de la Poles in 1504
and was probably in disrepair when acquired in 1544 by
Sir Henry Jernegan. An influential courtier, he replaced
the castle’s west curtain wall but retained, behind it, the
original great hall.
Follow the cut path around Wingfield Green and
head north along Wingfield Road towards
Syleham. Look out for the curious Card Hut at the
junction with Windmill Lane and follow this lane
(signed Leading to Public Paths) to see the
remnants of Syleham Windmill. Return to the
Wingfield Road into Syleham.
4
Syleham Windmill
All the land on your right as you go down the lane used to
be part of Syleham Great Green (enclosed and
subdivided in 1854) and the windmill used to stand in the
corner of the green. Unfortunately
the mill was damaged in the
storm of 1987 and all that
remains is this circular
round house, built in
1823 of clay lump,
and a conical roof
that resembles a
witch’s hat.
5
In Syleham, just after Syleham Village Hall, take the
footpath on your right and follow this to the Hoxne
Road. Turn right and right again at the T-junction
into Syleham Road to Monks Hall on your left.
The round tower is probably a 12th-century Norman
construction with a 14th-century upper part. See how
the nave is lower than the chancel, the result of reroofing the nave in 1891 (stonework on the tower shows
the original height of the roof).
Monks Hall
Inside the porch, look at the spandrels of the door arch
– the left-hand side has a shield with three wheels and a
lion, representing the arms of Thomas Chaucer of
Ewelme in Oxfordshire (son of Geoffrey Chaucer the
poet) and his wife Maud Burghersh; the right-hand
shield has the quartered arms of the de la Pole and
Wingfield families. Inside, note the green font on an
earlier 12th-century base with a conical ‘hat’ dated
1667, and the early 19th-century signatures scratched
on the window glass.
This attractive timber-framed house dates from around
1600 and has a jettied porch and a crowstepped brick
gable to its wing. It takes its name from its ownership by
the monks of the Cluniac priory at Thetford, having been
gifted to them in the early 1100s by Roger Bigod, the
Norman sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk.
Continue along Syleham Road to the crossroads
where you will see Syleham Cross. Turning left takes
you on a causeway to St Mary’s Church, Syleham.
6
Syleham Cross
This timber cross, erected in
2000, is in celebration of
the Millennium and a
replacement of a
medieval cross said to
have once stood here. It is
thought that it was at this
cross that Roger Bigod’s
son, the rebellious Hugh
Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, submitted
to King Henry II in 1174 surrendering his
castles of Bungay and Framlingham.
7
Retrace your steps to Syleham Cross and
continue along Syleham Road to the site of
Syleham Mill and factory.
St. Mary’s Church, Syleham
St Mary’s sits in lonely isolation on a virtual island
surrounded by riverside meadows – its name means ‘the
settlement in the miry place’. In the 17th century there
was a wooden bridge across the river connecting to a
causeway on the Norfolk side, but all sign of that have
now disappeared.
There may once have been an Anglo-Saxon monastic
presence here and the existing church seems to contain
some late Anglo-Saxon ‘long-and-short work’ in its north wall.
8
Syleham Mill
Syleham Mill has had a fascinating history. Originally a
corn-grinding watermill, it was converted in the 1830’s to
manufacture drabbet (a course cloth for making smocks),
and huckaback (a cloth for making towels). At the outbreak
of WW1 production changed to clothing manufacture.
In 1928 the mill was devastated by fire but the dye
works were saved – the row of cottages you see today,
and the factory moved opposite. It closed in 1989,
having at its peak been one of the largest privately
owned clothing manufacturers in the country.
Access to the bridge across the River Waveney was
once controlled by a toll gate. In 1955 you would have
been charged one penny to cross!
Just past Syleham House (the Georgian miller’s
house), turn right onto a footpath. Follow a
concrete track before picking up waymarkers
which lead you alongside and across fields to
Syleham. Turn right at the lane and immediately
left to retrace your steps back to Wingfield.