Mendham, Suffolk

Last updated

Mendham
Mendham - Church of All Saints.jpg
Church of All Saints
Suffolk UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Mendham
Location within Suffolk
Population451  [1]
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town HARLESTON
Postcode district IP20
Dialling code 01379
Police Suffolk
Fire Suffolk
Ambulance East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Suffolk
52°23′52″N1°20′15″E / 52.397669°N 1.337629°E / 52.397669; 1.337629
Mendham village sign Mendham village sign.jpg
Mendham village sign

Mendham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the east bank of the River Waveney around a mile east of Harleston, the parish includes the hamlets of Withersdale Street. The Mendham Marshes are also within the parish boundaries.

All Saints Church is a medieval church, Grade I listed, that was restored in the 1860s. It is now one of six churches in the Sancroft Benefice. The village of Mendham came under Mendham Priory until the dissolution of the monasteries. Mendham Priory then became a private house. The present house is an early 19th century neo-classical mansion, with a Doric style porch, built for Alexander Adair. The Priory was later the home of the Dimmock family. [2]

Until the 19th century, around 25% of the parish fell in Norfolk and 75% in Suffolk. [3]

Mendham's most famous son, born to a local miller, was Alfred Munnings KCVO, PRA (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959), known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken enemy of Modernism. An extract of one of his paintings, featuring gypsy Charlotte Gray leading a pony, [4] has been incorporated into the Mendham village sign. Her husband, Frederick "Nobby" Gray, was one of Munnings' closest friends and a model in some of his paintings. Both Nobby and Charlotte are buried in All Saints churchyard in Mendham.

Two-time world champion darts player Peter Wright also lives in Mendham.

References

  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  2. "Mendham Priory". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  3. William White (1844). History, gazetteer, and directory of Suffolk. p. 449.
  4. "The Poppy Field (held by the McManus Gallery, Dundee)". 20 January 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2019.