Woodbridge | |
|---|---|
 The harbour, withWoodbridge Tide Mill in the background | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Woodbridge Location within Suffolk Show map of Suffolk Woodbridge Location within the United Kingdom Show map of the United Kingdom | |
| Coordinates:52°05′38″N01°19′12″E / 52.09389°N 1.32000°E /52.09389; 1.32000 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent Country | England |
| Region | East Anglia |
| County | Suffolk |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 7,749 |
• Estimate (2020) | 8,244 |
| (2011 Census)[1] | |
| Postcode | |
| Area code | 01394 |
| Website | www |
Woodbridge is a port town andcivil parish in theEast Suffolk district ofSuffolk, England. It is 8 miles (13 km) up theRiver Deben from the sea. It lies 7 miles (11 km) north-east ofIpswich and around 74 miles (119 km) north-east of London.[2] In 2011 it had a population of 7,749.
The town is close to some major archaeological sites of theAnglo-Saxon period, including theSutton Hoo burial ship. It is well known for its boating harbour andtide mill next to the River Deben, in theSuffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape.[3] Several festivals are held.[4] As a "gem in Suffolk's crown" (according to The Suffolk Coast tourist site)[5] it has been named the best place to live in the East of England.[6]
Historians disagree over the etymology of Woodbridge.The Dictionary of British Placenames (2003) suggests that it is a combination of the Old English wudu (wood) and brycg (bridge).[7] The Sutton Hoo Society's 1988 magazineSaxon points out, however, that there is no suitable site for a bridge at Woodbridge, or any fordable sites until Wilford, the site of the current bridge, several miles upstream.[8] It also raises that an Anglo-Saxon bridge being wooden would have been unlikely to be worthy of comment.[8] It suggests that it might instead have been a combination ofodde (a cognate of the Old Scandinavianoddi meaning 'promontory or cape') andbreg (from the Anglo-Saxonbrego meaning king – note the closeness of Sutton Hoo) or more likelybryg (a cognate of the Norwegianbrygge or quay).[8]
The Suffolk Traveller (1764) suggests a similar origin toThe Dictionary but originating from a bridge over ahollow way that leads from Woodbridge Market Place to the Ipswich.[9] But this is disputed by Rev. Thomas Carthew, thenperpetual curate of Woodbridge who points out that the bridge had existed for less than a hundred years at that point and therefore was not old enough to be the source of the name.[10] He instead suggests Oden or Woden (Odin) and Burgh, Bury, or Brigg (town).[10]The Topographical Dictionary of England (1840) suggests a combination of Woden and Bryge.[11]
Archaeological finds point to habitation in the area from the Neolithic Age (2500–1700 BCE). A ritual site was found while excavations were made for theEast Anglia Array, a wind farm at Seven Springs Field.[12] The area was occupied by the Romans for 300 years after QueenBoudica's failed rebellion in 59 CE, but there is little evidence of their presence.
After the Roman forces were recalled to Rome in 410 CE, substantial Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) settlement ensued. The Angles gave their name to East Anglia.
King Rædwald ofEast Anglia wasBretwalda, the most powerful king in England in the early 7th century. He died in about 624 CE and is often associated with the burial atSutton Hoo, across the River Deben from Woodbridge. The burial ship is 89 feet (27 m) long. The treasures discovered there in 1939 were the richest finds ever on British soil. They are held now in theBritish Museum in London, but replicas of some items and the story of the finds can be seen in the Woodbridge Museum. The National Trust has built a visitor centre on the site.
The earliest record of Woodbridge as such dates from the mid-10th century, when it was acquired by StAethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, as part of the endowment of amonastery he helped to refound atEly, Cambridgeshire in 970.[13] The Domesday Book of 1086 describes Woodbridge as part ofLoes Hundred with 35 households, i.e. one of the largest 20 per cent of settlements recorded.[14] Much of Woodbridge was granted to the powerfulBigod family, who built the castle atFramlingham.
The town has been a centre forboatbuilding,rope-making andsail-making since theMiddle Ages.Edward III and SirFrancis Drake had fighting ships built in Woodbridge.[15] The town suffered in the plague of 1349, but recovered enough, with encouragement from the Canons and growing general prosperity, to have a new church (St Mary's, behind the buildings on the south side of Market Hill) built of limestone fromthe Wash and decorated withThetford flint. By the mid-15th century the Brews family had added a tower and porch.
On 12 October 1534, Prior Henry Bassingbourne confirmed Henry VIII's supremacy over the Church and rejected the incumbent "Roman Bishop". Nonetheless,Woodbridge Priory was dissolved three years later.[16]
As religious unrest continued under the Roman CatholicQueen Mary, Alexander Gooch, a weaver of Woodbridge, and Alice Driver ofGrundisburgh were burnt for heresy onRushmere Heath. Alice had previously had her ears cut off for likening Queen Mary toJezebel. Subsequent religious settlement under Elizabeth I helped Woodbridge industries such as weaving, sail-cloth manufacture, rope-making and salt making to prosper, along with the wool trade. The port was enlarged, and shipbuilding and the timber trade became lucrative, so that a customs house was established in 1589.
The town has various buildings of theTudor,Georgian,Regency andVictorian periods, and atide mill in working order, one of only two in the UK and among the earliest. The mill first recorded on the site in 1170 was run byAugustinian canons. In 1536 it passed to KingHenry VIII. In 1564, QueenElizabeth I granted the mill and the priory toThomas Seckford, who in 1577 foundedWoodbridge School and theSeckford Almshouses for the poor of Woodbridge. Twowindmills survive,Buttrum's Mill, andTricker's Mill, of which Buttrum's is open to the public.[17]
In 1943, theRoyal Air Force (RAF) built amilitary airfield east of Woodbridge.RAF Woodbridge was used during theCold War by theUnited States Air Force as the base for two Tactical Fighter Squadrons until 1993.
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Woodbridge lies in theEast Suffolk district of the shire county of Suffolk. It is acivil parish; thetown council, which is based atWoodbridge Shire Hall has a mayor and 16 councillors elected for four wards.[18] The town is currently represented by theLabour MPJenny Riddell-Carpenter in theSuffolk Coastal parliamentary constituency.[19] The county councillor is theLiberal Democrat Caroline Page.
In 1894 Woodbridge became anurban district which became part of the administrative county ofEast Suffolk in 1889, the district contained the parish of Woodbridge.[20] On 1 April 1974 the district was abolished and became part ofSuffolk Coastal in thenon-metropolitan county of Suffolk.[21] Asuccessor parish was formed covering the same area as the former district and its parish.[22] In 2019 Woodbridge became part of East Suffolk district.
The town has state and grant-aided primary and secondary education atFarlingaye High School, Woodbridge Primary School, Kyson Primary School, and St Mary's Church of England Voluntarily Aided Primary School.[23] The co-educational independentWoodbridge School has junior and senior departments and facilities for boarding.[24]
Woodbridge has a communitybrass band, the Excelsior, formed in 1846, which makes it the oldest inEast Anglia.[25] There is a local radio station.[26] The town also has a two-hectare (5-acre) walled park.[27] Also of interest ecologically are the Quaker Burial Ground[28] and Fen Meadow, 2.67 hectares (6.6 acres) of traditionally managed grassland.[29]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC East andITV Anglia. Television signals are received from theSudbury TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter.[30]
Local radio stations areBBC Radio Suffolk,Heart East,Greatest Hits Radio Ipswich & Suffolk,Nation Radio Suffolk andIpswich Community Radio, a community based station which broadcast from nearbyIpswich.[31]
The town is served by the local newspaper,Ipswich Star.
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Woodbridge has aNon-League football clubWoodbridge Town F.C., which plays at Notcutts Park.
The many clubs and groups cover association football, badminton, birdwatching, bowls, cricket, cruising, netball, road running, rowing, rugby football,[32] swimming, tennis, golf (Woodbridge Golf Club, founded 1893 at Bromeswell listed in the top 100 in England and Ufford Park), yachting and archery.[33] They include Deben Rowing Club and Deben Yacht Club.
The town's Deben Leisure Centre and swimming pool were refurbished in 2017–2018 and now provide fuller services since reopening.[34]
The twoChurch of England churches are themedieval St Mary's on Market Hill,[35][36] and theVictorian St John's on St John's Hill.[37][38]
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Woodbridge Quay Church in Quay Street, once the Quay Meeting House, embodies a 2006 merger of the town'sBaptist andUnited Reformed congregations. It is affiliated to theBaptist Union of Great Britain and theEvangelical Alliance.[39] There is aMethodist Church in St John's Street, aSalvation Army hall in New Street,[40] and theRoman CatholicChurch of St Thomas of Canterbury in St John's Street. The last forms a joint parish withFramlingham.[41] WoodbridgeQuaker Meeting meets weekly at Woodbridge Shire Hall. Avenue Evangelical Church, on the outskirts of Woodbridge, is affiliated to theFellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.[42]
Woodbridge has an unusually warm summer climate, according to the averages for 1991–2020, and is exceptionally dry by British standards.[43]
| Climate data for RAF Bentwaters 26m amsl (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.8 (46.0) | 5.8 (42.4) | 10.2 (50.4) | 11.2 (52.2) | 15.3 (59.5) | 17.7 (63.9) | 21.5 (70.7) | 22.6 (72.7) | 19.3 (66.7) | 12.9 (55.2) | 10.6 (51.1) | 7.3 (45.1) | 13.5 (56.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 6.0 (42.8) | 4.0 (39.2) | 7.7 (45.9) | 8.3 (46.9) | 12.2 (54.0) | 14.4 (57.9) | 18.4 (65.1) | 19.1 (66.4) | 15.9 (60.6) | 10.5 (50.9) | 8.3 (46.9) | 5.4 (41.7) | 10.9 (51.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 4.1 (39.4) | 2.2 (36.0) | 5.2 (41.4) | 5.3 (41.5) | 9.1 (48.4) | 11.1 (52.0) | 15.4 (59.7) | 15.5 (59.9) | 12.5 (54.5) | 8.0 (46.4) | 6.1 (43.0) | 3.4 (38.1) | 8.2 (46.7) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 43.7 (1.72) | 46.4 (1.83) | 36.9 (1.45) | 39.4 (1.55) | 48.0 (1.89) | 45.8 (1.80) | 23.1 (0.91) | 15.2 (0.60) | 61.3 (2.41) | 20.1 (0.79) | 65.5 (2.58) | 38.3 (1.51) | 483.7 (19.04) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 8.6 | 8.4 | 9.3 | 8.6 | 6.8 | 10.6 | 5.4 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 10.1 | 13.5 | 8.3 | 100.1 |
| Source: Meteoclimat[44] | |||||||||||||
WritersEdward FitzGerald andAnne Knight were born in Woodbridge, and fellow writerBernard Barton lived in the town in later life.
Other residents of note include musiciansNate James andCharlie Simpson; actorsBrian Capron andNicholas Pandolfi; painterThomas Churchyard; Director-General of the BBCIan Jacob; abolitionistJohn Clarkson;Roy Keane the football manager, andThomas Seckford, official at the court ofQueen Elizabeth I. The clockmakerJohn Calver lived in the town.[45] MusiciansBrian Eno andBrinsley Schwarz were born there.[46] The world's most tattooed man,Tom Leppard, was born in the town. So were the actorGavin Lee and the footballerVernon Lewis.
The composerChristopher Wright (1954–2024) and his wife, violinist Ruth Dickins (1958–2009), lived in Woodbridge.[47]
Woodbridge has beentwinned since 1973 withMussidan, a town in theDordogne in south-west France.
The following people and military units have received theFreedom of the Town of Woodbridge.
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