RUSHFORD Church

A beautiful church with a long and rich history sits in the village of Rushford.

A church at the heart of village life which draws together the residents from 30 households to regular events and worship. Read on to explore more of the abundant history and living community today.

 

HISTORY of Rushford Church

This church dates from the thirteenth century when it was part of a large manor owned by a Larling family. Edward Gonville who came here from Larling as its patron and Rector in 1326 had plans to enhance the importance of the small village, split in political terms by the Little Ouse River which forms the border between Norfolk and Suffolk.

Indeed the name Rushford comes from the original crossing point a ford between the rushes, as depicted on the village sign. In 1342 Edward Gonville endowed a college for a Master and 5 priests in Rushford and built a quadrangular college just to the south of the church on the Norfolk side of the river. Edward Gonville became Rector of Terrington and Commissioner of the Marshlands, founding Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge.

The vestry on the north side of the nave was built by the mother and sister of the then Rector, the Rev'd J.B. Atkinson, in 1889, as is recorded in a window. The cost was £150. The windows on the north side of the nave are l5th century insertions into an earlier wall. The chancel windows mainly have the 'Y' tracery characteristic of about 1300. Rushford College was surrendered at the Dissolution in 1541 by the Master of the College, who was also Archdeacon of Norfolk and Steward to the Duke of Norfolk.

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