Ilketshall St John is a 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is south-east of the market town of Bungay and is part of a group of parishes with similar names known collectively as the Saints. The parish is sparsely population and is estimated to have a population of between 40 and 50.St. John, Ilketshall
Healthy Suffolk, 2016. Retrieved 2021-02-17. It has an area of and borders the parishes of Bungay,

Mettingham Mettingham is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is east of the market town of Bungay in the East Suffolk district. It had a population of 211 at the 2011 United Kingdom census. The northern bound ...

Shipmeadow Shipmeadow is a village and civil parish located in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is in the East Suffolk district, east of Bungay and the same distance west of Beccles on the B1062 road. Norwich is to the north-west. At t ...

, Ilketshall St Andrew,

Ilketshall St Lawrence Ilketshall St Lawrence is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is south-east of the market town of Bungay and is part of a group of parishes with similar names known collectively as th ...

and

Ilketshall St Margaret Ilketshall St Margaret is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is south of the market town of Bungay in the East Suffolk district. The parish is part of the area known as the Saints and had a populati ...

. The

A144 road The A144 is an A road in the English county of Suffolk. It runs from the town of Bungay, close to the border with Norfolk, to the A12 trunk road near the village of Darsham, passing through the market town of Halesworth. It is around in le ...

between Bungay and

Halesworth Halesworth is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in north-eastern Suffolk, England. The population stood at 4,726 in the 2011 Census. It lies south-west of Lowestoft, on a tributary of the River Blyth, upstream from Southwold. T ...

runs through the parish, passing just south of the parish church. Other than the church there are no local services.

Mettingham Castle Mettingham Castle was a fortified manor house in the parish of Mettingham in the north of the English county of Suffolk. Details Mettingham Castle was founded by Sir John de Norwich, who was given a licence to crenellate his existing manor ho ...

is just to the north of the parish.

History

At the

Domesday survey 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

Ilketshall was recorded as a single settlement with a population of 82 households in

Wangford Hundred Wangford was a hundred of Suffolk, England, consisting of . Wangford Hundred was an area of around from west to east and five across. The River Waveney formed its northern border separating it from Norfolk. To the east lay Mutford and Lothinglan ...

.Ilketshall (St Andrew, St John, St Lawrence and St Margaret)
Open Domesday. Retrieved 2021-02-17. Most of the land was held by

Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

. The parish church, which is dedicated to

St John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, was established during the 13th century by Sir James de Ilketshall. The church became part of the holdings of Bungay Nunnery in 1267 when Sir James failed to repay a loan to the nuns. Suckling AI (1846) 'Ilketshall St. John', in ''The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: Volume 1'', pp. 161-163. Ipswich: WS Crowell.
Available online
at British History Online. Retrieved 2021-02-17.)Church of St John the Baptist
List entry,

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

. Retrieved 2021-02-17.About us
Ilketshall St John, A Church Near You,

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. Retrieved 2021-02-17. A

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy t ...

, known as The Mount, is located in the east of the parish. This has a series of well preserved earthworks and is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

.Motte and bailey castle known as The Mount
List entry,

. Retrieved 2021-02-17. The parish has always been sparsely populated. At the 1841 census it had a population of 71. This rose to 87 at the 1881 census and declined during the 20th century, reaching less than 50 by the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. During the 1850s, The young

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, Prince Albert Edward, the future

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

, lived in the rectory where he was tutored by Charles Féral Tarver, at the time the rector of the parish church.Knott S (2020
St John, Ilketshall St John
Suffolk Churches. Retrieved 2021-02-17.

St John's Church

The parish church is dedicated to John the Baptist and dates from the 13th-century. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

and features a 15th-century tower and octagonal font. A window containing 13th-century glass remains, whilst a large stained glass window was donated by the future Edward VII in 1861. The church was restored in 1860, with the work paid for by the Royal Family.

Notes

References

Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Waveney District {{Suffolk-geo-stub