| Thorpeness | |
|---|---|
 Thorpeness Meare | |
  Thorpeness Location withinSuffolk | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Leiston |
| Postcode district | IP16 |
| Dialling code | 01728 |
| 52°10′46″N1°36′53″E / 52.179333°N 1.614710°E /52.179333; 1.614710 | |
Thorpeness is a seaside village in theEast Suffolk district ofSuffolk, England, which developed in the early 20th century into an exclusive holiday village. It belongs to the parish ofAldringham cum Thorpe and lies within theSuffolk Coast and HeathsAONB.
For the earlier history of Thorpe, seeAldringham-cum-Thorpe.
The village was a small fishing hamlet originating in the late 19th century, withfolk tales of it being a route for smugglers intoEast Anglia.[citation needed] The Suffolk Humane Society openedThorpeness Lifeboat Station in 1853. It was transferred to theRoyal National Lifeboat Institution in 1855 but closed in 1900.[1]
The landowning Ogilvie family, began to buy into the area in 1859.[2] In 1910, Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, a Scottishbarrister whose father had made a fortune building railways around the world, increased the family's local estates to cover the entire area from north ofAldeburgh to pastSizewell, up the coast and inland toAldringham andLeiston.[3]
Most of this land was used for farming, but Ogilvie developed Thorpeness into an elite private fantasy holiday village, to which he invited his friends' and colleagues' families during the summer months. An exclusive country club with tennis courts, a swimming pool, clubhouse; a golf club designed by the eminentJames Braid with its own club house; and many holiday homes were built inJacobean andTudor Revival styles.[4]Thorpeness railway station, provided by theGreat Eastern Railway to serve what was expected to be an expanding resort, was opened a few days before the outbreak ofWorld War I. It was little used, except by golfers, and closed in 1966.[5]
A notable feature of the village is a set ofalmshouses built in the 1920s to the design of W. G. Wilson.[6] To hide the eyesore of having a water tower in the village, the tank built in 1923 was clad in wood to make it look like a small house on top of a five-storey tower, with a separate mill next to it, which pumped water to it. It is known as the"House in the Clouds", and after mains water was installed in the village, the old tank was transformed into a huge games room with views over the land from Aldeburgh to Sizewell.[7]
For three generations Thorpeness remained mostly in the private ownership of the Ogilvie family, with houses only being sold from the estate to friends as holiday homes. In 1972, Alexander Stuart Ogilvie, Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie's grandson, died on the Thorpeness Golf Course. Many of the houses and the golf course and country club had to be sold to paydeath duties.[8]
An artificial boating lake known as the Meare was created where there had once been an Elizabethan shipping haven that had silted up.[9] Many of the inspirations for the Meare came from a personal friend of the Ogilvies,J. M. Barrie, who wrotePeter Pan.[8] Along with a large main pond, there are several channels with landings marked with names from the Peter Pan stories. Tiny islands on the Meare contain locations found in the novel, such as the pirates' lair, Wendy's house, and many others, where children are encouraged to play. The Meare was dug to a shallow depth for safety reasons.[9]
A variety of boats can be rented to enjoy the water, many of them originals dating from the creation of the Meare and named by the local workmen who had dug the lake. In August, the Meare serves as the location for theThorpeness Regatta, which has been held since 1913.[10]
To the south of the village lies theNorth Warren RSPB reserve, an area of wildlife andhabitat conservation and nature trails run by theRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds. It hasSite of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) andSpecial Protection Area (SPA) status.[11]
Like much of Britain's East Coast, Thorpeness has had intermittent problems withcoastal erosion. Discussions are still underway for further defences.[12][13]
A lifeboat crew from Thorpeness rescues Tim and his friend the sea captain in theEdward Ardizzone bookLittle Tim and the Brave Sea Captain (1936).[14]
