South Elmham

South Elmham is a collective name for a series of small villages in the Wangford Hundred of Suffolk, in the flat agricultural lands south and south-east of Bungay. The villages are spread out amongst the fields south of the River Waveney, which marks the border with Norfolk. They are all west of the A144, the route of the old Roman road known as Stone Street, between Bungay and Halesworth.

The most central of the South Elmham villages is St Nicholas.

The fields here are strung with little lanes and many footpaths, joining each village to the next.

Each of the villages is all named after a saint; that of their parish church or a former church. The villages belong to a wider are of Suffolk between the rivers Blyth and Waveney known as The Saints from the naming of the villages, or to local folk as 'up the Parishes'. Ilketsall is the other main group of The Saints

The villages bearing the name of South Elmham are:

All Saints South Elmham	TM344825
St Cross South Elmham	TM298841
St James South Elmham	TM320811
St Margaret South Elmham	TM314839
St Michael South Elmham	TM340839
St Nicholas South Elmham	TM322828
St Peter South Elmham	TM335848

Each of the villages is an ecclesiastical parish, apart from All Saints and St Nicholas, which are both part of the parish of Rumburgh with South Elmham All Saints, and St Nicholas.

Each is also a civil parish, apart from All Saints and St Nicholas, which are joined together in the All Saints and St Nicholas, South Elmham parish.

St Michael is one of the Thankful Villages.

History

In the Anglo-Saxon period, the diocese of east Anglia had its seat at "Helmham", founded in the reign of King Ealdwulf (c.664-713) according to Bede. It is unclear whether this is North Elmham in Norfolk or South Elmham in Suffolk.