Little Redisham

No individual entry found for Little Redisham in the Domesday survey. Kirby (1839) notes: "The church of Little Redisham hath been many years down. The rectory hath been consolidated to Ringsfield." Suckling (1846-1848) writes: "The Church, or, as it is called in some old writings, the Free Chapel, of Little Redisham, is a very small building, now in ruins, which comprised, in its perfect state, a nave and chancel only, without either aisles or tower. [...] The Prior and Convent of Butley were patrons of this preferment previous to the Reformation, and presented to it as a separate benefice till the year 1450, when it was annexed to the rectory of Ringsfield, at the request of the monks of that establishment. It is probable that the fabric soon after fell into decay, though the two livings were not consolidated till the year 1627. [...] It was certainly in ruins in 1613, [...] the fabric was neither rebuilt nor repaired." Suckling (ibid.) further notes that the first incumbent recorded was Joēs Bould in 1301, and that this church or chapel was valuaed in the Norwich Domesday Book: "Estimatio eccliē 6 marc: Synodalia ixd. Peter-pence iiijd. ½". The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) notes: "The ruins of Little Redisham church are enclosed in a field near the Hall, it having once been a separate parish." Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of 1870-1872 reports also the ruins of the former chapel here. The entry for Little Redisham in Knott's Suffolk Churches [www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/redisham.htm] [accessed 29 August 2019] notes: "The 19th Century restoration by Butterworth was gentle to St Peter, and the brick floors give the interior great character. There are a few impressive late medieval survivals: the font is elegant and harmonious, with blank shields which must once have been painted alternating with roses." [NB: modern church with modern font].