St Peter South Elmham 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 north of the English county of Suffolk. It is around south of the market town of Bungay in the East Suffolk district. It is one of the villages surrounding Bungay which make up the area known as The Saints.All Saints & St. Nicholas, St Michael and St Peter, South Elmham
Healthy Suffolk, 2016. Retrieved 2021-02-23. The parish is sparsely populated with an estimated population of around 40. It borders the parishes of St Margaret South Elmham, St Michael South Elmham, All Saints and St Nicholas South Elmham,

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 ...

and Flixton. The parish council operates jointly with All Saints and St Nicholas and St Michael.

History

The parish is believed to be part of the land given by

Sigeberht of East Anglia Sigeberht of East Anglia (also known as Saint Sigebert), (Old English: ''Sigebryht'') was a saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was the first English king ...

, the ruler of the Anglo-Saxon

Kingdom of East Anglia la, Regnum Orientalium Anglorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the East Angles , common_name = East Anglia , era = , status = Great Kingdom , status_text = Independent (6th centu ...

Felix of Burgundy Felix of Burgundy, also known as Felix of Dunwich (died 8 March 647 or 648), was a saint and the first bishop of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom of East Anglia. Almost all that is k ...

during the 7th-century. 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 ...

in 1086, St Peter was included as part of the area recorded as South Elmham 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 ...

. A population of 108 households was recorded.(South) Elmham (All Saints, St Cross, St James, St Margaret, St Michael, St Nicholas and St Peter)
Open Domesday. Retrieved 2021-02-23. By the early 12th-century, the land was held by the

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher. The see is in t ...

, before being seized during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and transferred to Edward North, 1st Baron North in 1535. By the late 16th century the Tasburgh family from the Flixton area had become dominant in the parish. The parish has always been sparsely populated, reaching a population of 129 in the 1801 census, but falling to below 100 by 1851 and below 50 by 1951.

Culture and community

There are no local services other than the parish church, which is dedicated to St Peter. This dates from the 12th century and 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 ...

.Knott S (2008
St Peter, South Elmham St Peter
Suffolk Churches. Retrieved 2021-02-23.Church of St Peter
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 2021-02-23. Two former public houses are known to have operated in the village; both are believed to have closed by 1927. St Peter's Hall, a moated Grade II* listed manor house with elements from the 13th century, is the location of St. Peter's Brewery, founded in 1996 on the site.About St Peter's Hall & Restaurant
St. Peter's Brewery. Retrieved 2021-02-23.St Peter's Hall
List entry,

. Retrieved 2021-02-23. It was the home of the Tasburgh family, a prominent local family. Suckling AI (1846) 'South Elmham, St Peter', in ''The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: Volume 1'', pp.229–232. Ipswich: WS Crowell.
Available online
at British History Online. Retrieved 2021-02-23.) The brewery operates a public bar and restaurant on the site during the summer months. Businessman and former

Formula One Group The Formula One Group is a group of companies responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the exercising of the sport's commercial rights. The Group was previously owned by Delta Topco, a Jersey-based company ow ...

chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was born in the parish.Russell S (2011
Bernie Ecclestone: from rural Suffolk to the throne of Formula One
''

East Anglian Daily Times The ''East Anglian Daily Times'' is a British local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich. History The newspaper began publication on 13 October 1874, incorporating the ''Ipswich Express'', which had been published since 13 August ...

'', 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2021-02-23.

Notes

References

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