Timeline

Work in progress… (picture of 16c West Doorway first publshed by the Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury on October 24th 1934. By kind permission of EADT)

1086 Domesday refers to a church in Ubbeston

1100 Approximate date of the nave and chancel of present building

1176 Walter, son of Robert, son of Richard, [de Clare] grants the Churches of Obeston and Henelingham, for the soul of his father, who was buried at St Neot's about 1176

1229 A licence for the appropriation of the rectory to the Priory of St Neot was obtained

1350 Approximate date of the tombstone in SW corner of the nave. Believed to have been in the chancel until the resoration of the church in 1865

1393 Will of John Hegges (vicar) ‘to be buried in the church at Ubstone' ‘the residue of my goods… to the reparation of the chancel of Ubstone

1452 Will of William Bernardi of Huntyngfeld ‘to the fabric of Upston church 6s.8d.

1452 Will of Richard Russell of Upston ‘to the church of Upston to the reparation of the Lord's sepulchre 6s. To Sir Andrew, parish chaplain of the same church 40d.

1469 Will of William Noyse of Ubbeston ‘to be buried in the churchyard of St Peter'. He left 12 pence to the High Altar.

1520 Treble bell cast by William Calverdon of London (now the clock bell in Henley Church).

1529 Will of Thomas Cowall, Vicar ‘to the making of a new steeple, to be made within the churchyard of Ubbeston so that the town will help make it up, 10 marks'

1534 Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy. Ubbeston's Rectorial Tithes and Advowson granted to John Pope Esq.

1541 Will of John Hamonde of Ubbeston ‘to be buried in the church or churchyard of Ubbeston. To the same church 20s. to the reparation of the window in the steeple'

1545 Churchyard fenced by the inhabitants of Ubbeston

1555 Register started. Entries for the first 45 years were copied in 1600 from an older register by Gabriel Eland, Minister of the Parish

1556 John Browne de Halesworth had the advowson of Ubbeston, his son John was Lord of the Manor of Spexhall.

1565 Roger Plumpson, Vicar buried at Ubbeston

1573 Treble bell cast by Stephen Tonni of Bury St Edmunds (now in Moyse Hall Museum) [other sources say 1567]

1580 Will of John Browne the Elder of Halesworth to his wife ‘my Rectory & Parsonage with tithes & the advowson & patronage of the Vicarage of Ubbeston'

1585 Churchyard fenced by the inhabitants of Ubbeston

1558 Erasmus Cooke, Clerk, married at Ubbeston

1597 Non-conformity vicar does not wear surplice

1620 Robert Symonds died and buried in the east of the chancel. Other information suggests his was the oldest legible tombstone in Churchyard near the east end of the church (the chancel). (Unnamed source)

1625 Will of William Fuller - he requested ‘to be buried Ubbeston Churchyard'

1627 Will of Sir Joseph Hayes of Ubbeston ‘to be buried and interred in Ubbeston Church where my beloved wife lieth buried'

1641 Johne Sone, father of Lady Mary Kemp and builder of the original Ubbeston Hall (Harefield House), died on 25 October and was buried in Ubbeston Church in the chancel

1642 Elizabeth Sone died 23 October aged just 14 months. She was the daughter of John and Mary Sone.

1643 William Dowsing, puritan and iconoclast, born in Laxfield, seems to have omitted any mention of St Peter's Ubbeston in his journal of destruction. Maybe the church was already conforming to his extreme puritanical tastes?

1654 Churchyard fenced by the inhabitants of Ubbeston

1665 Thomas Bradley alias Jacob (of Jacob's Hall, Laxfield and married to Barbara Heveningham) died and was buried in chancel at Ubbeston Church.

1659 Mary Kemp, daughter of Sir Robert Kemp and Mary nee Sone, born & baptised in Ubbeston Church. (b. 20 March)

1662 Jane Kemp, daughter of Sir Robert Kemp and Mary nee Sone, born & baptised in Ubbeston Church. (b. 23 November)

1667 Robert Kemp, son of Sir Robert Kemp and Mary nee Sone, born & baptised in Ubbeston Church. (b. 23 January)

1671 Francis Legg, Gent., servant to Sir Robert Kemp, died 14 March and was interred in Ubbeston Church.

1675 William Kemp, son of Sir Robert Kemp and Mary nee Sone, born & baptised in Ubbeston Church. (b. 5 December)

1680 Mary Kemp married Charles Blois Esq. in Ubbeston Church (11 May)

1683 Collecting shoe, now at Heveningham Church, first used.

1685 Mrs Mary Sone died on 12 January and was buried in the chancel with her husband, John. Her daughter, Mary Kemp, raised a memorial to her on the chancel wall.

1685 The rectory was re-annexed to the Vicarage by the will of Mrs Mary Sone, widow (mother of Lady Mary Kemp)

1694 Jane Kemp married Dr John Dade in Ubbeston Church (15 March)

1704 William Kemp, son of Sir Robert married Jane Colman on 4May in Ubbeston Church.

1706 Sarah Edwards an infant was buried 30 October

1707 Sarah Edwards has to perform penance in the church for ‘committing the crime of adultery'.

1720 Jane Alexander, wife of Waldegrave Alexander of Badingham, Gent., died 3 February and was buried in the aisle.

1746 Revd John Elleshaw, Vicar, died. His remains were deposited in the vault

1748 John James, vicar, died on 14 November and was buried in the church

1752 John James' wife, Deborah, died 2 February and was buried in the church

1755 Hannah Elleshaw, widow of the former vicar, John, died 14 May and her remains were deposited in the vault with her husband's.

1804 Flag staff for church tower £1. 5s. Lead for tower £42. 0s. 7d.

1805 One of the three church bells sold for £16. 18s. 2d

1809 Jubilee Service for the 50 year reign of George III held in church

1818 South porch created and North porch removed. See Henry Davy's sketch on Church title page

1818 Chancel covered with slate at vicar's expense [Badeley]

1818 Unendowed Sunday School mentioned

1825 Nave slated and according to unnamed source the lead was sold for £72

1828 Stable built in churchyard by Lord Huntingfield for Ubbeston Vicars' use.

1835 A Sunday School of about 20 children was supported by Samuel Badeley, Vicar.

1865 Restorations: new pews, new nave floor, cost £176. 14s. 8d. New churchyard fence with iron railings and new gates £42. 15s. 6d.

1872 Joseph Tacon, churchwarden, died on 28 September and buried at Wingfield. A memorial was raised to him in St Peter's in the sanctuary.

1876 Rev. Robert James, Vicar, buried 4 July.

1876 Rev. E.A. Watkins instituted 31 Aug.

1876 Small harmonium and chair purchased by subscription.

1876 Bible & Service Book presented by Mrs Holland.

1877 repairs and alterations to vicarage. Vicar [Watkins] paid for a box for the communion plate

1879 Restoration of exterior and windows. Cost £253. Appeal was made for subscriptions for work to the church in May 1879 by Rev Watkins and the church warden, J.C.Hubbard. Ubbeston was described as having 200 persons in the parish. The appeal pamphlet noted: 'It is curious that there are eight windows in this Church but not any two of them are alike. When asking for the recasting of the tenor bell, it [the bell] was described as 'useless'. There is a reference to the third bell: 'The missing one has disappeared, but no account is extant of the reason for its removal or the date when it occurred. The wooden frame still remains as proof of its former existence'. [Parish records suggest it was sold in 1805.]

1892 Chancel floor relaid

1932 30 November. Graystons in Laxfield invoiced the church for work on the stove: a new top to the cowl; 3 bolts; cleaning pipes

1966 Church designated a Grade I listed building

1967 Church in trouble - shortage of money and small congregation

1968 It was proposed by the Church authorities that Ubbeston and Heveningham ecclesiastic parishes should be joined

1969 Letter 2 June from the vicar indicates there was a legacy of £1000 left in J Snook's will for releading the tower and reslating the roof.

1969 Parish meeting held at Ubbeston Hall re the church's plight. Reluctant agreement to redundancy

1971 3 August, St Peter's Church declared redundant

1971 Last service held 19 September (D. Sonnex)

1971 16 October an inventory of the church's possessions was drawn up and included the following: Jacobean oak armchair; ten Commandments printed on metal; antique collecting shoe; Elizabethan chalice and cover; patten; antique steel bound chest

1972 St Edmundsbury & Ipswich Diocesan Board of Finance granted outline planning permission for conversion to a private dwelling.

1972 The March circular from The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings included a for sale notice for St Peter's Ubbeston

1972 9 May estimated cost of repairs was approximately £6000

1972 Over a two year period there was more than 100 people interested in buying the church

1973 Mr and Mrs Arthur Day who lived close to the church expressed an interest in purchasing it.

1973 The Church Commissioners & Advisory Board received ‘a sheaf of letters from various critics'

1974 26 March Public Meeting held re the church. Air Vice Marshall Sir Roderic Salmon described the event as: ‘A lively meeting dominated by the militants'.

1974 Save Ubbeston Church Appeal held campaigned and petitioned against conversion to a private dwelling

1974 17 June Diocesan Board of Finance agreed to tenor bell's transfer to Moyse Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds

1974 Church offered to a young architect, Christopher Southin for £1000

1975 Treble bell transferred to Henley church as a clock bell

1982 Church converted to a private dwelling by present owners.

1983 Church font moved to Heveningham Church (D.Sonnex)