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Woodbridge in Suffolk County England History and GeographyWOODBRIDGE, a market town and parish in the hundred of LOES, county of SUFFOLK, 7½ miles (E.N.E.) from Ipswich, and 76½ (N.E. by E.) from London, containing 4060 inhabitants. This town is of considerable antiquity, for, so early as the time of Edward the Confessor, the prior and convent of Ely had possessions here: the name is thought to be a corruption of Wodenbryge, from the Saxon god Woden. Towards the termination of the twelfth century a priory was founded here, by Ernaldus Rufus and others, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was valued at £50. 3. 5.: a house built by one of the Seckfords, now in the possession of the Carthew family, still retains the name of the Abbey. In 1666, upwards of three hundred and twenty-seven inhabitants died of the plague, and were buried, according to tradition, at Bear-man's Hill in the vicinity. The town is pleasantly situated on the north side of the river Deben, in the direct road from London to Yarmouth, and occupies the slope of a hill surrounded by beautiful walks: it consists of two principal streets, a spacious square called Market Hill, and several narrow streets and lanes, and is paved, lighted, and amply supplied with water: the atmosphere is highly salubrious, and the general appearance of the town is neat and respectable; from the summit of the hill is a commanding view of the river Deben to its influx into the sea. A small theatre was built in 1813; and a concert is held annually. During the war, barracks were erected on the high ground about half a mile north-west of the town, with accommodation for seven hundred and fifty cavalry and four thousand one hundred and sixty-five infantry; those for the latter were pulled down on the restoration of peace. The trade principally consists in the exportation of corn, flour, and malt; and in the importation of coal, timber, foreign wine, spirits, porter, grocery, drapery, and ironmongery. The shipping is greatly on the increase, consisting at present of thirty-eight vessels, of an aggregate burden of two thousand six hundred and fifty-nine tons: vessels sail weekly from this port to London, and many others are employed in trading with Newcastle, Hull, and the Continent; one or two sail direct to Liverpool, from which place they bring back salt; and there is a small trade to the Baltic for timber. A manufacture of salt, of peculiarly fine quality, was formerly carried on here; and there was a brisk business in ship-building, but both have declined. The river Deben, near its mouth, forms the haven of Woodbridge, from which it is navigable for vessels of one hundred and twenty tons' burden to the town; and on its bank are two excellent quays, the common quay, where the general exports and imports are shipped and landed, and the limekiln quay, where there are two docks, in which small ships of war and other vessels were formerly built: at the custom-house, in Quay-lane, the usual officers of collector, comptroller, tide-surveyor, and coast-waiter, are stationed. The market is on Wednesday, for corn, cattle, and provisions; and fairs are held on April 5th and October 23rd. The government of the town is vested, according to the provisions of an act of parliament, called Gilbert's Act, in a visitor and two guardians, chosen by the parishioners not rated under £5 per annum, whose duty it is to determine and superintend the collection and application of the parochial rates; in other respects the churchwardens exercise local authority. The quarter sessions for the liberty of St. Ethelred, and the hundreds of Colneis, Carlford, Loes, Plomesgate, Welford, and Thredling, are held here; and petty sessions take place every Wednesday. The sessions hall, under which is the corn market, in the centre of the market hill, erected in 1587, by Thomas Seckford, Esq., has recently undergone some extensive repairs; it is a handsome and lofty edifice of brick. On an adjacent eminence is the bridewell, rebuilt in 1804. The living is a perpetual curacy, to which the impropriate rectory has been annexed, in the archdeaconry of Suffolk, and diocese of Norwich, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Rev. T. Carthew. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, was built by John, Lord Segrave, in the reign of Edward III., and the tower and north portico in that of Henry VI.: on the north side of the chancel is an elegant private chapel, built in the reign of Elizabeth, by Thomas Seckford, Esq., in which is a tomb without an inscription, over the family vault, probably erected to his memory: the north portico is adorned with sculpture, in relief, representing the conflict of St. Michael and the Dragon. The tower is stately and magnificent, and, like the church, is constructed of dark flint intermixed with freestone, and, towards the upper part, formed into elegant devices; the summit is crowned with battlements, having finials at the angles, which are surmounted by vanes, and decorated in the intervals with badges of the four Evangelists; it is one hundred and eight feet high. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists. The free grammar school, in Well-street, was founded in the year 1662, by Mrs. Dorothy Seckford and others (this lady having also bequeathed the tithes of the parish to the minister), and is endowed with property producing about £37 per annum. The master is elected by the heirs of the founder and the perpetual curate, or, in default of such, by the lord of the priory manor, the perpetual curate, the two churchwardens, and the three principal owners, and three principal occupiers, of land in the parish: his salary is £25 per annum, with land worth about £12 per annum and a rent-free residence, for instructing free scholars, of whom there are about ten, and he has £3 per annum for day scholars, with permission to take boarders. A National school, in Bridewell-street, in which are three hundred and fifty boys and girls, is supported by voluntary contributions, and by grants from the National School Society. A school on the Lancasterian system, in Miller's-lane, affords instruction to about one hundred children of both sexes; and there is a Sunday school, twenty-four of the girls in which are also clothed. Almshouses were erected, in the time of Elizabeth, by Thomas Seckford, Esq., for the residence of thirteen poor unmarried men, with another house for three poor women, to attend them as nurses, and endowed with an estate in the parish of St. John's, Clerkenwell, London, which, in 1767, produced an income of £568 per annum; but more than £20,000 having been expended on it, such is the improving state of the property, that the rental is expected eventually to produce between £5000 and £6000 per annum. The inmates must be chosen from among the poor inhabitants of Woodbridge, if proper objects can be found, by the minister and churchwardens: the principal of these poor men receives £27 per annum, and each of the other twelve £20, with various extra allowances; the men wear a silver badge, with the arms of the founder. The sum of £10 is given annually to the poor of Clerkenwell, and a like annuity is paid to the minister of this parish, for instructing the almspeople and visiting them when sick; and £5 per annum is given to each of the churchwardens, as paymasters of the establishment: this institution is placed under the government of the Master of the Rolls and the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, by patent of Queen Elizabeth. There are, besides, different benefactions, amounting to about £150 per annum, for the benefit of the poor. Various relics of antiquity, especially fragments of warlike instruments, have been occasionally found in the vicinity. Christopher Saxton, the publisher of the first county maps, was a native of this place, and servant to Thomas Seckford, Esq., a great benefactor to the town, who resided in a mansion house at Great Bealings, about a mile and a half distant: they were published under his patronage, in 1579, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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