Beccles Quaker Meeting House
Beccles, Suffolk
St Michael’s goes way back to about 1350 and was built by the Abbott of Bury St Edmunds no less. Long before that, there was a Saxon church, probably on the same site, that served this thriving fishing port. In the church you can discover more about the Saxon chapel that was nearby and its fascinating link with the herring trade.
Step inside the vast nave and be drawn eastwards through a lovely carved screen to the magnificent east window. Admire the oak choir stalls with their exquisitely carved ends. Note the early 16th century tomb of Norwich mayor John Rede with its intriguing row of 10 children and find out what happened to the 11th figure.
Lord Horatio Nelson is strongly linked to this church as his parents were married here! His father, the Revd Edmund Nelson was a curate at St Michael’s and married Catherine Suckling from nearby Barsham in May 1749. The great Suffolk poet George Crabbe married his sweetheart Sarah Elmy in this church in 1783.