Mendham 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Mid Suffolk Mid Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England. The district is primarily a rural area, containing just three towns, being Stowmarket, Needham Market and Eye. Its council was based in Needham Market until 2017 when it moved to sha ...

district of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

in eastern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Located on the east bank of the

River Waveney The River Waveney is a river which forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within The Broads. The earliest attestation of the name is from 1275, ''Wahenhe'', from ''*wagen + ea'', meaning the river by a q ...

around a mile east of Harleston, the parish includes the hamlets of Withersdale Street. The Mendham Marshes are also within the parish boundaries. All Saints Church is a medieval church, Grade I listed, that was restored in the 1860s. It is now one of six churches in the Sancroft Benefice. The village of Mendham came under Mendham Priory until the dissolution of the monasteries. Mendham Priory then became a private house. The present house is an early 19th century neo-classical mansion, with a Doric style porch, built for Alexander Adair. The Priory was later the home of the Dimmock family. Until the 19th century, around 25% of the parish fell in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and 75% in Suffolk. Mendham's most famous son, born to a local miller, was

Alfred Munnings Sir Alfred James Munnings, (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959) is known as having been one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism. Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund after the Gre ...

KCVO, PRA (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959), known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken enemy of

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. An extract of one of his paintings, featuring gypsy Charlotte Gray leading a pony, has been incorporated into the Mendham village sign. Her husband, Frederick "Nobby" Gray, was one of Munnings' closest friends and a model in some of his paintings. Both Nobby and Charlotte are buried in All Saints churchyard in Mendham. Two-time world champion darts player Peter Wright also lives in Mendham.

References

External links

Mendham & Withersdale website
Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District {{Suffolk-geo-stub