Laxfield and Studhaugh

Studhaugh (Stadhaugh, Studhaw etc)

Laxfield, and Studhaugh in particular, is the earliest known ancestral home of the Fiske family. Studhaugh farmhouse as it exists today dates from the 16th century, but Fiskes have lived on the site since the 14th century or earlier. Daniel Fisc was recorded as living in Laxfield in 1208; the last Fiske of Studhaugh died in about 1675.

Studhaugh farmhouse is pictured above right about a hundred years ago, and below in 1998.

As an aside, it appears that the present occupants are experimenting with rearing ostriches.. the times they are a changin'!

 Studhaugh in the 1890s

Studhaugh in the 1990s

More pictures of Studhaugh

 

Laxfield church

More pictures of the church

 Church of All Saints

Perpendicular apart from the nave which is Decorated, and the chancel and vestry which were rebuilt in pale stone in 1841. The handsome tower is stone-faced, with buttresses and flushwork panels, all paid for by donations which continued until 1475, according to local wills. The tower battlements bear the names of Jn. Wingfield and wife, 1460, he also got the place its weekly market. The porch was intended to have an upper storey but was left incomplete. The interior of the church is very broad, the nave roof spans 36 ft; it is believed to be original, and is of the trussed-rafter type. The early 16th century font has depictions of the Seven Sacraments and the Baptism of Christ on the bowl, the third step is in the form of a Maltese Cross and forms four stools. The pulpit is Jacobean; there are 15th century carved benches, mixed in with box pews containing 16th century panels. The poor box is a thick baluster, dated 1664.

 

Laxfield Guildhall

 Laxfield street scene
No fewer than 48 of the thatched and timbered buildings in the village have been scheduled as 'of historic and architectural interest'. Included in the list is the timber-framed, brick-nogged Guildhall of St Mary (above left, also visible above right), which was donated by the lord of the manor, in 1461, as a church house; it is now the local museum. Laxfield was home to the Puritan iconoclast, William Dowsing. He was appointed Parliamentary Visitor in 1644 and in less than 50 days he and his men had destroyed and defaced religious objects in over 150 Suffolk churches, while his deputies dealt with the remainder. There is a memorial to Dowsing in All Saints' Church. At the Baptist chapel (c.1808) there is a memorial stone to the shoemaker John Noyes who was burned at the stake in 1577 for his reformed church beliefs. It is said that on the day of his death everyone in the village put out their fires except for one; this was used as the flame to set Noyes alight.

Suffolk County Council estimate of population for 1996: 920.

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