Parish: GREAT BEALINGS
District Council: EAST SUFFOLK (previously Suffolk Coastal)
TM 233 488
Not open to the public
Overlooking St Marys Church (Grade II*) and the meadows of the Lark valley, The Old Rectory (Grade II) is c. 3.2km (2mls) west of Woodbridge and stands at c. 30m above sea level.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Revd Philip Meadows B.A. of Witnesham Hall was rector of the village. A friend of Major Edward Moor of Bealings House, the Revd Philip was living at another house further south known as The Lodge because the glebe house was said to be unfit for occupation. When Major Moor’s son the Revd Edward James Moor became rector in 1844 he set about building a new rectory, today known as The Old Rectory (Grade II), set high to give commanding views of the church and River Lark. Edward was rector for the next forty years during which time he carried out substantial restoration work on the church. Born at the rectory in 1888 two years after her father Revd Howard Beech became rector, the writer of Perfumes from Provence (1935), Lady Winifred Fortescue (nee Beech), described her early life in the village and its people in her book There’s Rosemary, there’s Rue. The 1884 and later 1905 OS maps show a simple layout to the gardens at the rectory, with the house sitting centrally in its plot with lawns and meandering paths encircled by areas of both deciduous and coniferous trees that formed the pleasure grounds.
In the 1940s, when Little Bealings Rectory in the neighbouring parish became the home of the incumbent, the Great Bealings Rectory was sold and became a private residence. More recently The Old Rectory was the home of the late Lord Belstead (d. 2005), Lord Lieutenant of the County, local farmer, and Minister of State for Northern Ireland and Leader of the House of Lords under Margaret Thatcher.
Today little has changed to the basic layout of the gardens since the nineteenth century and where mature trees are a feature. However, additions include a small enclosed formal garden attached to an extension to the house and a relatively new terrace that wraps around the west and south of the original house with steps down to the sloping lawn.
SOURCES:
Babington, C., ‘The Birds of Suffolk’ in Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, Vol. V, Part 4, 1883.
Birch, Mel, Suffolk’s Ancient Sites Historic Places, 2004.
Copinger, W. A., The Manors of Suffolk, Vol. 3, 1909.
Davy, David, Elisha, A Journal of Excursions through the County of Suffolk 1823-1844, published by Suffolk Records Society, 1982.
(Combined parish councils) Great Bealings, Little Bealings and Playford Parish Plan, April 2009.
Great Bealings Parish Council, Great Bealings Neighbourhood Plan, A village in a landscape, Referendum version, December 2016.
Great Bealings Parish Council, Great Bealings Neighbourhood Plan, March 2016.
Kelly’s Directory of Suffolk, 1896.
White, William, Directory of Suffolk, 1844, 1855.
Census: 1851, 1881, 1901, 1911.
1839 (tithe map 1838) and apportionment.
1884 (surveyed 1881) Ordnance Survey map.
1905 (revised 1902) OS map.
1928 (revised 1925) OS map.
1947 (revised 1938) OS map.
2023 Google aerial map (Imagery © Bluesky, CNES / Airbus, Getmapping plc, Infoterra Lts & Bluesky, Maxar Technologies, Map data © 2019).
Heritage Assets:
Suffolk Historic Environment Record (SHER): BEG 004, BEG 049.
St Marys Church (Grade II*). Historic England No: 1030752.
The Old Rectory (Grade II). Historic England No: 1030753.
English Heritage Project Ref: 3987, The Aggregate Landscape of Suffolk: The Archaeological Resource, Interim report for Aerial Survey component Areas One & Two: The Felixstowe Peninsula, PDF version 2011.
Suffolk Record Office (now Suffolk Archives):
SRO (Ipswich) FC32/C/7/23. Correspondence concerning the sale of Great Bealings Rectory and gaining possession of Little Bealings Rectory as a house of residence for the incumbent, 1945-47.
Site ownership: Private
Study written: November 2024
Type of Study: Desktop
Written by: Tina Ranft
Amended:
