The main area of population in the village is clustered around All Saints Common, a large area of common land.[2][3] All Saints' was recorded as having a population of 192 in 1801 and 232 by the time of the
1851 United Kingdom census.[2] The combined population of the modern parish is around 130.[4]
The parish church of
All Saints survives, although it is formally redundant and cared for by the
Churches Conservation Trust. It is a Grade I listed building, dates from the 12th-century and is one of around 40
round-tower churches in Suffolk.[a][11][12][13][14] Other than the parish church, the village has no services.[1]
Notes
^The exact number of round-tower churches in the county is a matter of debate. Some sources list 38,[5][6] others cite between 40 and 43.[7][8][9][10] They almost all date from the late
Anglo-Saxon or early
Norman periods and were mostly built between the 11th and 14th-centuries. There are around 183 round-tower churches in England, most of them in Norfolk, which has around 124, and Suffolk.[8][10] Four of the churches now in Norfolk were previously in Suffolk before
boundary changes in 1974.[9]
^Suckling AI (1846) 'South Elmham, All Saints', in The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: Volume 1 pp.183–189. Ipswich: WS Crowell. (
Available online at British History Online. Retrieved 2021-02-27.)