Rather jolly lion and unicorn on the George IV coat of arms, which, instead of supporting the shield, emerge dramatically from behind it.
" St Mary’s has a tall W tower and a single nave and chancel with no chancel arch, although the chancel roof is slightly lower. The nave has a 12thc. N window; the remaining windows being 15thc. insertions restored in 1898. The blocked N doorway is 14thc. and the S doorway 15thc. under a brick porch displaying the arms of Thomas Wingfield (d.1632) and his wife Alice Poley (d.1628). The chancel windows are all 15thc. except for the E window ofc.1850. The piscina is 15thc. too. The 15thc. W tower has a Perpendicular W window and bell-openings, a polygonal S stair and a battlemented parapet. It is constructed of a mixture of flint, pebbles, bricks, septaria and reused dressed stone fragments, and among the last are three pieces of 12thc. carved window heads, similar in design to the surviving N nave window. The remainder of the church, except the porch, is rendered with cream-coloured mortar. The church was restored, re-floored and re-seated by Herbert J. Green of Norwich in 1898. He took down part of the N wall of the nave, inserting a new window. The tower, roof and other parts of the church were damaged in 1940 when a German bomb exploded in the road outside, and it remained derelict until 1950, when it was reopened after a restoration by Ernest Barnes of Ipswich to H. Munro Cautley’s designs. The tower and porch were restored by A. F. Knights of Debenham in 1986-87.
History -
Nettlestead was held as a manor by Goti before the Conquest. In 1086 it was held by Erland from Count Alan. There were 5 carucates of ploughland, 8 acres of meadow, a mill and a church with 8 acres of land. Earl Ralph Guader (who forfeited the Earldom of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1078) enlarged the manor by adding 2½ carucates of land, 34 free men, 3 acres of meadow and a church with 70½ acres. A smaller manor here, just 60 acres of ploughland and five acres of meadow, was held by Humphrey from Count Alan. By the 14thc. it was in the hands of the Tiptofts. From John de Tiptoft it passed to his son Robert (c.1340-72), and when Robert's daughter Elizabeth married Philip (IV) Despenser it passed to that family. Again the succession was to follow the female line, through Philip and Elizabeth's daughter Margery (1397-1478). She married Roger Wentworth in 1422, and the manor apparently came to their family at her father’s death in 1424. The Wentworths were Lords of the Manor from untilc.1645, and a brass ofc.1500 in the nave is believed to commemorate a member of this family, although its inscription is lost."
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"George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover following the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his father's final mental illness.
George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era. He was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, and Sir Jeffry Wyattville to rebuild Windsor Castle.
His charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of England", but his poor relationship with both his father and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, and his dissolute way of life, earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy. He even forbade Caroline to attend his coronation and asked the government to introduce the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in a desperate, unsuccessful attempt to divorce her.
For most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister, with little help from George. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible. At all times he was much under the influence of favourites. Taxpayers were angry at his wasteful spending at a time when Britons were fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. He did not provide national leadership in time of crisis, nor act as a role model for his people. Liverpool's government presided over Britain's ultimate victory, negotiated the peace settlement, and attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that followed. After Liverpool's retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic emancipation despite opposing it. His only legitimate child, Princess Charlotte, died before him in 1817 and so he was succeeded by his younger brother, William."
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