Layham St Andrew’s

Currently in progess, 1539-1812. Search on FreeREG.

Layham is sandwiched between Hadleigh to the north, Polstead to the west, and, to the south, Shelley. Stoke by Nayland and the Essex border aren’t too far away to the south. The parish is split into two villages, Upper and Lower Layham, on either side of the River Brett.

See surnames in the churchyard, and Ward memorials in the churchyard published in The East Anglian (archive.org).

Notes

• It looks as if someone wrote up the register in the 1630s, as all the entries from 1539 to 1636 are in the same neat handwriting.
• Baptisms: none 1558-1561, 1573-1574, few 1587, 1588, 1592, 1596-7, none 1598, few 1603, one 1 in 1606, few 1610, only 1 each 1611 and 1612, few parents’ names 1613, few 1614, none 1615, few 1616, only one 1669, only one 1680, none 1683. A little patchy in the mid-1740s. None May-Oct 1754. Only two 1755, none 1756, only one 1757. Most for 1758 and all 1759-1760 baptisms are recorded with burials.
• Burials: many gaps in the 1500s. None 1552-1560, 1566-1567, 1569, 1571-1575, 1578-1580, 1583, 1588-1592, 1595-1599. Only 1 in 1600, 1603 none, only 1 1604, none 1611-1612, none 1614, only 2 1615, none 1617, BIG GAP none 1642-1664, none 1666, none 1670, 1674, 1689. None 1757.
• Marriages: none 1559-1561, (none/lost) 1603-1604, lost 1611-1612, no one married 1613, 1615 lost, 1619 no one married, none 1629, BIG GAP – none 1638-1671, none 1673-1678, none 1680-1684, none 1688-1690. None 1719-1728 (page missing?).
• William Clover was buried on 9th Feb 1725/6, with a stern warning about working on the Sabbath as he was “killed by the mill as it was grinding on a Sunday.” He must come from the same family as the Clovers of Hitcham, who were also millers.