Monument record HXN 018 - Church of St Peter & St Paul; Church of St Ethelbert (Sax)

Site of pre-Norman bishop's seat and monastery.
Bishop Theodred of London and E Anglia refers in his will, c. 950 to his `biscopriche' at Hoxne and made a gift of land to `God's community at St Ethelbert's church at Hoxne' (into Hoxne into scc. Aethelbrichtes kirke ther godes hewen)(S1). St Ethelbert was an E Anglian king who was martyred in 794. Domesday Book records that `in this manor is a church, the episcopal see in Suffolk before 1066 (in h.man.e. aecclesia sedes episcopatus de Sudfolc t.r.e)(S2).
This pre-Conquest monastery is sometimes identified with the later Hoxne Priory (see HXN 004) but it is more likely that it was on the site of the present parish church.
The church was granted by Biship Herbert Losinga to the Cathedral Priory of Norwich in 1101. A charter of confirmation by Henry III names it as St Peter's Church (Ecclesiam sancti Petri de Hoxa)(S3).
See also Med.