Sir John de Wingfield founded the great 14th-century church at Wingfield and his tomb can be found within it. Here visitors can see fine church monuments of Sir John de Wingfield and the De la Pole family. The church contains the effigy of Michael de la PoleEarl of Suffolk, and his wife Katherine. This Earl died of dysentery at the Siege of Harfleur whilst with Henry V on his Agincourt campaign of 1415.[2]: 122 The Earl's son, also Michael, who was with his father, succeeded to the title but was killed a few weeks later whilst fighting under the King at the actual battle of Agincourt.[2]: 254 The title then passed to the second son, William, who was aged fifteen at the time.[3]William de la Pole, later first Duke of Suffolk, who was murdered after being exiled in 1450, was buried by his widow, Alice Chaucer, in the family church of the Charterhouse, Kingston upon Hull, as was his wish, and not in Wingfield church as is often stated.
St Andrew's church contains fifteen 15th-century misericords. They have more than a family resemblance to those at Sutton Courtenay now in Oxfordshire, but pre-1974 in Berkshire, and those at Soham in Cambridgeshire.
The church's Tudor organ has been reconstructed and tours the country. It features in the film The Elusive English Organ.
Wingfield College
Wingfield College.Wingfield College and Barns
Wingfield College is a remnant of the college founded by the will of Sir John de Wingfield in 1362,[4] and endowed by the Black Prince in his will. The college had a master, nine secular chaplains and three choral scholarships for boys. These persons were required to live at the college, pray for Sir John, the Black Prince and Edward III, run a boarding school and minister to the parish. In 1542, however, the college was dissolved and a large part was demolished. The remaining wings were remodelled in Palladian style in the 18th century. It was not until a previous owner, Ian Chance, came into possession that restoration revealed the 14th-century structure. Since 1981 the adjacent Wingfield College Farm has run a regular series of concerts, recitals and lectures, with exhibitions including ceramics, textiles and contemporary art and a creative arts visitor centre, known as Wingfield Arts. This venture closed in 2003 due to lack of funding, but the restored buildings in 4 acres (16,000 m2) of gardens, ponds, garden sculpture and a play garden re-opened in April 2009 as Wingfield Barns under the stewardship of Mid-Suffolk District Council. In 2009 a Community Interest Company (CIC) was formed to formally take on the leasehold of the buildings and run the artistic programming and venue hirings.
^ abCurry, Anne (2005). Agincourt. A new history. The History Press.
^Watts, John (2004). "Pole, William de la, first duke of Suffolk (1396-1450)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online Sept 2012 ed.).
^William Page (1975). "Colleges: Wingfield". A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
