Chelmondiston is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England, located on the

Shotley Peninsula The Shotley Peninsula is a rural area east of the A137 Ipswich-Colchester road located between the rivers River Stour, Suffolk, Stour and River Orwell, Orwell in Suffolk, England. The peninsula is named after the settlements of Shotley and Sh ...

, five miles south-east of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

. The hamlet of Pin Mill lies within the parish on the south bank of the

River Orwell The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at Stoke Bridge, about half a mile below where the river beco ...

. The village comprises approximately 500 dwellings and has a population of just over 1,000. It is one of the largest villages situated on the Shotley Peninsula.

History

The etymology of the word Chelmondiston is perhaps ‘Ceolmund’s dwelling’. The parish contains a number of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

barrow sites. Chelmondiston and Pin Mill do not appear in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. It was formerly known as Chelmington and was located in the old

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Babergh.

Churches

The original parish church of St. Andrew was described in 1865 as an "old, small, dilapidated edifice, with a square tower", and it was subsequently rebuilt by architect Edward Charles Hakewill. On 10 December 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a flying bomb hit Hakewill's church and it was almost completely destroyed. In 1951, Basil Hatcher was commissioned to provide a replacement. The modern St. Andrew's church includes a set of

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows made by Francis Skeat in the 1960s. There is also a Methodist church on the Main Road and a Baptist church on Pin Mill Road.

Notable residents

* John Henley (1692–1756) clergyman, writer and poet, also known as 'Orator Henley' and noted for his showmanship and eccentricity. * George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934) Anglican priest, poet and musician. * Princess Muna al-Hussein (born Antoinette Gardiner in 1941) wife of

Hussein of Jordan Hussein bin Talal (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 1952 until Death and state funeral of King Hussein, his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemites, Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Hu ...

References

External links

* * * * * * *
Village website
- Chelmondiston Web Site (broken link)

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Babergh District