Return from the 1851 Census Of Religious Worship
ST. LAMBERT'S CHURCH
Population [814.] [Area 2399a.]
Endowed with land, £5; tithe commuted at £666 10s. 0d. - rates and tax £166 10s. 0d - £500 [net]; 46a of glebe, £50; fees, £4; Easter Offering, £1 10s 0d.
Sittings free 200, others 200. gallery for schoolchildren 100. Present morning 222+77 scholars; afternoon 375+79 scholars. 19 Sunday scholrs in morning and 17 in afternoon were bsent from illness and bird-keeping. Average (12 months) morning 215+95 scholars; afternoon 365+95 scholars. Signed Charles Shorting, Rector. (11)Ownership; Class V. Holy Communion eight times a year, average of 81 communicants. Rector inst. 1836. Several Dissenting families; chiefly Baptists [T 383; NV 85/9.] 1
St. Mary & St. Lambert, Stonham Aspal (aka Church Of The Blessed Virgin Mary, also St. Lambert)
The Church Of The Blessed Virgin Mary is a Grade I listed building in The Street, Stonham Aspal, Suffolk. It was first listed on 9th December 1955.2
The 1851 Census of Religious Workship, refers to it as St. Lambert.
At some point after it was Listed, the Church changed its name to St. Mary & St. Lambert. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when (or why) this was done, although the Suffolk Churches Website offers an explanation that I feel is worth repeating here ...
There are two immediately unusual things about this church. Firstly, there’s the dedication. Now, it would be foolish to make too much of the dedications of Anglican churches, since few of them have remained unchanged over the centuries. During the years between the 16th Century Reformation and the 19th Century revival they largely fell into disuse, except where required to differentiate one church in a town from another. Some current dedications of Suffolk churches are the result of well-meaning but not always entirely accurate 18th Century antiquarians. Suffolk's churches were in the Diocese of Norwich in the medieval period, and several dedications were conflated or confused by the antiquarians. Chattisham took on Shottisham’s, while Kirton took on Shotley's, the church there often being refered to as Shotley Kirkton in old documents. They confused the Suffolk Hoo with the Norfolk Hoe, and thought that Suffolk's Shimpling and Norfolk's Shimpling were the same place. Great Ashfield and Badwell Ash actually swapped dedications. The enthusiasm of 19th century Rectors should also not be underestimated. At Whepstead, the parish church is dedicated to St Petronilla, uniquely in all England, but this has no basis in antiquity. Rather, someone there in the 1880s had a special devotion to the Saint, or perhaps thought it was simply a nice name.
So it is no surprise to learn that the Saint Lambert here is a mistake. In fact, there are three Stonhams, and this one once used the name of the Lambert family, owners of the Manor, to distinguish itself from the others. Such distinctions are more common in Essex. There is such a thing as a Saint Lambert, but he was never the dedicatee here.
Further details on our Church can be found on Simon's Suffolk Churches Website St. Mary & St. Lambert, Stonham Aspal
