St Peter's Church is the parish church of

Theberton Theberton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is located north-east of Saxmundham, and miles north of Leiston, its post town. In 2011 the parish had a population of 279. Hi ...

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 ...

, England, and in the

Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part ...

. It is a

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berks ...

, and parts of the building date from the 12th century. The building is

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Description

There is a nave and chancel, over which there is a continuous thatched roof, and a south aisle. The nave and the round tower are of the 12th century, with 15th-century windows. The chancel, originally of the 12th century, with a surviving stone

corbel table In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

below the eaves, was extended eastward about 1300."Theberton St Peter"
''The Round Tower Churches of Europe''. Retrieved 6 July 2024. The octagonal upper section of the tower dates from about 1300, with a

crenellate A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

d parapet of the 15th century, around the base of which are four projecting

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s that throw rainwater clear of the walls. The 12th-century north door, now within the 19th-century vestry, has a chevroned arch in two orders, and two orders of

colonette A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a Beam (structure), beam or lintel. Colonnettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and Grandfather clock, case clock, and eve ...

s. The south porch, with

flushwork In architecture, flushwork is decorative masonry work which combines on the same flat plane flint and ashlar stone. If the stone projects from a flat flint wall then the term is proudwork, as the stone stands "proud" rather than being "flush" w ...

decoration, was built about 1470. The pulpit and octagonal font are of the 15th century; the font has alternating lions and angels around the bowl, and alternationg lions and wodewoses around the stem. The south aisle was added in the 15th century, and was rebuilt in the 1840s by the Doughty family of Theberton Hall. In the south aisle there is a memorial to Frederica Doughty (died 1843), and a memorial to the writer and explorer

Charles Montagu Doughty Charles Montagu Doughty (19 August 1843 – 20 January 1926) was a British poet, writer, explorer, adventurer and traveller, best known for his two-volume 1888 travel book '' Travels in Arabia Deserta''. Early life and education Son of Rev. Ch ...

. "St Peter's Church
''Theberton and Eastridge''. Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 7 July 2024.

The link with Adelaide

There are display cases illustrating the link with

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in Australia.

William Light William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He was the first Surveyor General of South Australia, Surveyor-General of the History of South Australia#British preparation for est ...

, who surveyed the site for the city in 1836, was educated in Theberton by his father's friend Charles Doughty;

Thebarton Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore St ...

, a suburb of Adelaide, was originally (as Theberton) the name he gave to his house there.

Airship

A glass case in the porch contains part of the structure of German Zeppelin airship L48. 16 crew members died when the airship was shot down near the village by the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

on 17 June 1917. The dead were buried in the graveyard extension, and were moved sixty years later to

Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery The Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery () is on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England. The cemetery contains nearly 5,000 burials from both the First and Second World War. The burials are mainly German and Austrian nationals with a very small ...

. A memorial service was held at the church on 18 June 2017."Downing of German Zeppelin over Suffolk remembered in centenary service"
BBC, 18 June 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2024.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Theberton, Sant Peter's Church Grade I listed churches in Suffolk Church of England church buildings in Suffolk Round-tower churches Thatched buildings in Suffolk East Suffolk (district)