Monks Eleigh is a village and a civil parish in Babergh,

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 ...

, United Kingdom, situated on the tributary to the River Brett in a rural area. The parish contains the hamlets of Swingleton Green and Stackyard Green.

Notable buildings

The Anglican

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of St. Peter's is on the site of a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

church and has a 15th-century tower which can be seen from the surrounding countryside. A Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, it is surrounded by a graveyard and to the east of the church is a nature reserve. Above the

chancel arch In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

there is a large set of the

royal arms The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the royal arms, are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently Charles III. They are used by the Government of the United Kingdom and by other The Crown, Crown instit ...

of Queen Anne, comparable with those at St Mary's Church, Mildenhall. Monks Eleigh

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

Chapel, on Brent Eleigh Road, was founded in 1820. It is now a

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

church. Church books, including the history of the church, minutes, collection accounts, registers and membership roll, for the period 1824 to 1924, are held by the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. The Fenn is a Grade II* listed Georgian house at Swingleton Green. Some houses on the village green on Church Hill date back to the 16th century, as does the Swan Inn. Modern buildings include the village hall on Church Green. There is also a community shop and post office next to the Swan Inn on the main Brent Eleigh Road.

Swingleton Green and Stackyard Green

Swingleton Green and Stackyard Green are

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

in the parish of Monks Eleigh. Swingleton Green is located on a minor road called Back Lane. Nearby settlements include the villages of Monks Eleigh, Brent Eleigh, Chelsworth and Milden. The A1141 road and the B1115 road run nearby.

References

External links

Monks Eleigh Parish CouncilMonks Eleigh at genuki
Villages in Suffolk Babergh District Civil parishes in Suffolk {{Suffolk-geo-stub