Burlingham St. Peter / B'lingeham / Birlingeham / North Birlingham / North Burligham

There are two Domesday entries for "B'lingeham" noted in Blomefield (1805-1810), one with 40 acres of free land held by a Helias [="Helias. de lx. ac. terre libe. et xl. qu. p'tinent. cuida. Ecclie"] after the Conquest; the other was a church with 30 acres [="i. Ecclia. xxx. ac."] held by "15 freemen, under the commendation only of Bishop Almar". Both churches and their earliest recorded rectors are noted in Blomefield (ibid.): "The Church of St. Andrew, in North Birlingham, was a rectory [...] Richard de Runhale was rector in 10th of Richard I.[i.e., 1199] as appears from a fine then levied [...] In this town of North Birlingham was also the church of St. Peter, a rectory [...] John de Essex occurs rector, in 1287." Knott (2007) writes: "St Andrew, a couple of hundred yards to the west, is a big, late medieval building with a huge tower, but St Peter was more typical of the area, a smaller, older church with a round tower. It was the tower that led to the demise of the building. One night in 1906, it collapsed into the nave. At first, the gap was merely boarded up, but, not surprisingly, this was found to be unsatisfactory, and in 1936 the remains of the congregation finally decamped up the road to St Andrew. The building has been left to decay since then, pretty much, quietly returning back to nature. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It is hard to see beyond its restoration, but this must have been a little Norman church, perhaps with a 13th century chancel."