| Great Glemham | |
|---|---|
 All Saints' Church | |
  Great Glemham Location withinSuffolk | |
| Area | 7.77 km2 (3.00 sq mi) |
| Population | 224 (2011) |
| • Density | 29/km2 (75/sq mi) |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Saxmundham |
| Postcode district | IP17 |
| Dialling code | 01728 |
| Police | Suffolk |
| Fire | Suffolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
| 52°12′14″N1°25′26″E / 52.204°N 1.424°E /52.204; 1.424 | |
Great Glemham is a village andcivil parish in theEast Suffolk district, inSuffolk, England, a mile and a half to the west of theA12 and roughly equidistant betweenFramlingham andSaxmundham.
The parish takes the shape of an irregular triangle formed by two clay ridges flanking rolling countryside through which runs the channel of a seasonal watercourse, the Gull, flowing NW to SE to join the upper River Alde, which forms the village's eastern boundary.
The civil parish had a population of 224 at the 2011 Census.[1] The centre of the village is aConservation area with numerous historic and listed buildings including its Grade I listed church, The Crown Inn, Crown House andK6 telephone box. From 1974 to 2019 it was inSuffolk Coastal district.
The place-name 'Glemham' is first recorded in theDomesday Book of 1086, where it appears asGl(i)emham, in the manors of Edwin Grim and Spearhafoc ofGlaimham.Eilert Ekwall comments: "The first element of the names is possiblyOld Englishglēam 'merriment'..." By analogy withGlandford in Norfolk, 'Glemham' could mean the 'village where sports were held'.[2]
Glemham House was built bySamuel Kilderbee in 1814[3] to the designs ofThomas Hopper[4] and is the seat of theEarls of Cranbrook andGathorne-Hardy family. With strong connections between the family andBenjamin Britten, the house hosted some of the earlier and more intimate performances of theAldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts including a notable recording byJulian Bream andPeter Pears. An earlier Glemham House, located closer to the village itself, had in the late eighteenth century been the home ofGeorge Crabbe, the author of the poemThe Borough which formed the basis of Britten's 1945 masterpiecePeter Grimes.
Britten worked closely with another Glemham resident, the librettistEric Crozier, on many of his operatic compositions includingThe Little Sweep. Although set at nearby Iken Hall, the child characters in this work were transplanted from Glemham House, at that time the home of Jock and Fidelity Cranbrook. Both personal friends of the composer, Fidelity was also chair of the newly formed Aldeburgh Festival. Britten and Crozier adopted the names and personas of Jock and Fidelity's children and nephews for the opera, and the opera is "affectionately dedicated to the real Gay, Juliet, Sophie, Tina, Hughie, Jonny and Sammy – the Gathorne-Hardys of Great Glemham, Suffolk."[5]
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Media related toGreat Glemham at Wikimedia Commons