Mendham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the east bank of the River Waveney around a mile east of Harleston, the parish includes the hamlets of Withersdale Street. The Mendham Marshes are also within the parish boundaries.

Mendham
Church of All Saints
Mendham is located in Suffolk
Mendham
Mendham
Location within Suffolk
Population451 [1]
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHarleston
Postcode districtIP20
PoliceSuffolk
FireSuffolk
AmbulanceEast of England
List of places
UK
England
Suffolk
52°23′52″N 1°20′15″E / 52.397669°N 1.337629°E / 52.397669; 1.337629
Mendham village sign

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.[2]

Until the 19th century, around 25% of the parish fell in Norfolk and 75% in Suffolk.[3]

Mendham's most famous son, born to a local miller, was Sir Alfred James Munnings 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. An extract of one of his paintings, featuring gypsy Charlotte Gray leading a pony,[4] has been incorporated into the Mendham village sign. Her husband Frederick or 'Nobby' Gray was one of Alfred's 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

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  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Mendham Priory". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  3. ^ William White (1844). History, gazetteer, and directory of Suffolk. p. 449.
  4. ^ "The Poppy Field (held by the McManus Gallery, Dundee)". 20 January 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
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