Chelmondiston is a small village and civil parish located on the Shotley Peninsula and is to the south-east of the county of Suffolk. On its outskirts lies the picturesque hamlet of Pin Mill which is located on the south bank of the River Orwell. The village comprises approximately 500 dwellings and has a population of just over 1,000. It is one of the largest villages situated on the Shotley Peninsula.
The etymology of the word Chelmondiston is perhaps ‘Ceolmund’s dwelling’ but a definitive meaning is still not known. Despite this, the parish has supported settlements for thousands of years as it contains a number of Bronze Age barrow sites but sadly, neither Chelmondiston or Pin Mil appear in the Domesday Book of 1086. Formerly known as Chelmington it was located in the old Hundred of Babergh but now is apart of Babergh District Council.
St Andrews is the parish church and in 1944 it was hit by a flying bomb which nearly destroyed it. In 1951 the church was rebuilt to the design of Basil Hatcher and now houses a set of stained glass windows made by the glass painter Francis Skeat.
In addition to the parish church, there is a Methodist church on the Main Road and a Baptist church on Pin Mill Road.