Woodbridge, a large town, seated on the east side of a sandy hill, with a pleasant prospect down the river Deben, which falls into the sea at about ten miles distance. It took its name from a wooden bridge, built over a hollow way, to form a communication between two parks, separated by the road which leads from Woodbridge market-place towards Ipswich. At the foot of the hill from this hollow way, near where the bridge probably stood, is a house which to this day retains the name of the Drybridge. The river at its influx into the sea, is called Woodbridge Haven, and is navigable up to the town, where there are several docks for building vessels, with convenient wharfs, and two quays: the common quay, where the chief imports and exports are, and where the fine Woodbridge salt is made; and above this is the lime-kiln quay, where formerly the Ludlow man-of-war was built. Some years since there was another dock below the common quay, where the Kingsfisher man-of-war was built; but this is now shut from the river by a mud-wall, and almost filled up. This place is generally admired by travellers for its healthy and salubrious air, many of its inhabitants, having lived to the advanced age of eighty, ninety, and some few to near an hundred years old. A considerable trade is carried on here in corn, flour, malt, cheese, coals, timber, deals, wine, foreign spirits, porter, grocery, drapery, and ironmongery goods. The shipping, of late years, has much increased in the exportation of corn. Stationary hoys sail to and from this port to Dice-quay, for the London market, weekly; other vessels are employed in the Newcastle and Sunderland trade. There being no particular staple commodity, it is much to be wished a manufacture of some sort could be established, to employ the poor in the town and neighbourhood, the profits arising from spinning wool, being the chief means of their support for a number of years, but is now much on the decline, owing to the low prices paid by the combers for their work. The manufacture of sackcloth, for which this place was formerly noted, and the refining of salt, are also much on the decline, other places affording them on cheaper terms. The market is on Wednesday.

The many pleasant walks in the vicinity of this town, have lately afforded the curious researchers in botany an addition to the list of rare plants not formerly noticed. The Turin poplar flourishes here in perfection, many thousands of them having been planted with good success in moist grounds, the girth and height of some of them being of large dimensions. It is proposed to throw a handsome bridge over the river Deben, between Woodbridge and Sutton.

A priory of Black Canons was founded here by Ernaldus Ruffus, at the end of the twelfth century, which was granted to Thomas Seckford; it was valued at 50l. 3s. 5d.

This town is neat, and the chief streets well-built and paved, but the rest dirty and the houses mean. The church is a very noble structure, built as is supposed, by John Lord Seagrave, and his countess, Margaret de Brotherton, in the reign of Edward III and dedicated to the Virgin Mary; towards building the north portico, many persons contributed their donations, agreeable to the piety of that age. The tower is remarkably handsome, composed of flint-work, in beautiful compartments, and is 180 feet high, distinguished at sea as a capital object, and at a great distance. The inside is spacious, consisting of a nave and two aisles, the roofs covered with lead, and supported by ten beautiful slender pillars, and four demiones of the Gothic style; the walls are of black flint, strengthened, with buttresses. Adjoining to the chancel, on the north side, is a private chapel, erected in the reign of Elizabeth, by Thomas Seckford, esq.; the east window of which is adorned with a fluted Doric pilaster. On the south side is a handsome convenient vestry. The north portico is of the like materials, and covered with lead; adorned on the front with the representation of St. Michael the Archangel encountering the dragon, done in relievo. In the church were altars of Saint Anne, Sancti Salvatoris, and the chapel of St. Nicholas, in the north aisle. —In the church-yard, or in the walls of the church, was a famous image of Our Lady.

Here are also an Independent, a Quakers’, and Methodist meeting-houses: also a grammar-school, founded by Thomas Seckford, in the year 1387.

The quarter-sessions of the peace, for this division, are usually held here in a noble old hall, built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by Thomas Seckford, esq., master of the requests, who also erected two alms-houses in this town, in 1587, for thirteen poor men and three women, which was then endowed by him with an estate in Clerkenwell, London, a part of which is at present called Woodbridge-street; first let for 112l. 13s. 4d., but leased in 1767, for sixty years, at 568l. per annum. More than 20, 000l. have since been expended on this estate. The governors of these alms-houses are the master of the Rolls, and the chief justice of the Common Pleas for the time being. Sir Thomas Sewell and Sir Eardley Wilmot increased the annual allowance to the residents of these alms-houses to the sum of 27l. to the principal, and 20l. to each of the other twelve poor men, besides a suit of clothes, a hat, three shirts, two pair of shoes and stockings, and a chaldron and a half of coals. The three poor women appointed as nurses reside in a house built in 1748, close to that of the men, upon the site of one formerly called Copt-hall. These women receive 12l. per annum, and a proportionate supply of clothing. The men wear a silver badge with the Seckford arms, and are required to attend divine service at the parish church on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and holydays in general. The same ordinances direct ten pounds a year to be paid to the minister of Woodbridge for instructing the alms-people, and visiting them when sick; five pounds to each of the two churchwardens for receiving the rents, superintending the distribution of the money, and enforcing the orders of the establishment; and ten pounds to the poor of Clerkenwell; the remaining 230l. to be expended in clothing, firing, medical attendance, and repairs; and the surplus, if any, distributed among such poor of Woodbridge as receive no relief from that or any other parish. Several other donations of less concern have been made to charitable uses in this town, by persons, whose names, with the particulars specified, are more fully expressed in the Terrier, exhibited into the bishop’s registry at Norwich; particularly a free-school, founded in the year 1662 by Mrs. Dorothy Seckford and others, endowed with a stipend in money, house, and land, of the value of about 56l. per annum. By the ordinances, "the master is obliged to teach ten boys, being children of the inhabitants of the town, free; and also any other like boy, for 1l. yearly only. "A noble institution! which formerly reflected honour on the generous founders; but whether from neglect in the trustees, or a defect in the constitutions, has long been little better than a sinecure. Mr. Seckford was possessed of the manor belonging to the dissolved priory at Woodbridge, with its appurtenances, and also the rectory, with the perpetual curacy.

Woodbridge is situated 77 miles from London; and consists, according to the returns made to parliament, of 640 houses, and 4060 inhabitants.

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WOODBRIDGE is a market and union town, parish, head of a petty sessional division and county court district, on the banks of the river Deben, which is navigable to Melton, half a mile above the town, which stands on the slope of a hill, commanding a fine view of the river to its mouth, a distance of 12 miles, it is 77 miles from London, 8 north-east from Ipswich, 12 south-west from Saxmundham, 26 from Colchester and 46 from Yarmouth, in the South Eastern division of the county, hundred of Loes, rural deanery of Wilford, archdeaconry of Suffolk and diocese of Norwich.

Woodbridge has a station on the Ipswich and Yarmouth section of the Great Eastern railway.

The town is governed by an Urban District Council under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1894” (56 and 57 Vict. c. 73), and is lighted with gas from works on the Quay, the property of the Woodbridge Gas Light and Coke Company Limited, and supplied with water from wells, and consists principally of four streets, forming the Toads to Ipswich, Saxmundham, Debenham and Bredfield: it was formerly connected with the port of Yarmouth, and was subsequently made a port itself, but ceased to be a port for the purposes of the “Customs Consolidation Act, 1876” (39 & 40 Vict. c. 36), 31 March, 1882. Fishing boats and their implements are distinguished by the letters W.E.

The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a fine specimen of the Perpendicular style and consists of chancel, with the Sekforde chapel on the north side, nave, aisles, north porch, and a noble embattled western tower of cut flint with freestone dressings, built in the reign of Edward in 108 feet high with pinnacles, the upper part having stone and flint intermixed in various devices, it contains a clock with chimes and 8 bells: the north-west porch has in front a representation of Michael the Archangel encountering the Dragon, and was restored in 1866: in 1839 the church was repaired, at an expense of £1,000, by George Thomas esq. when several stained windows and a south porch were added: the church was again thoroughly restored in 1874—5, at a cost of about £2,000, when the galleries were removed, and the fine western arch thrown open: the tomb of Thomas Sekforde esq. (the munificent benefactor of this town) was restored and placed on the north side of the chancel, and his arms, with the carved wood crest, placed over it; during the restoration the base of the old rood screen, erected by John Albrede, circ. 1450, was discovered, the lower panels of which, decorated with figures of saints painted and gilded, have been placed under glass near the organ, and new panels, copied from the originals in the British Museum, have been inserted: three piscinae and sedilia were also discovered: the font, much mutilated by Dowsing, is of the same period as the church, and has the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church carved on its sides; there are several brasses, the oldest bearing the date 1601: and a large marble monument to Jeffrey Pitman esq. some time sheriff of Suffolk, d. 1627; this monument has five effigies in alto relievo, colored and gilt, and is surmounted by his arms and crest: a new organ was erected in 1886, at a cost of £700: there are 850 sittings, one half being free. The register dates from the year 1545. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £238, with 24 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of trustees, and held since 1896 by the Rev. Thomas Housecroft MA. of Trinity College, Dublin, rural dean of Wilford, diocesan inspector of schools, and surrogate.

St. John the Evangelist’s is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1854. The church, erected in 1842 at a cost of £3,500, is an edifice in the Early English style, consisting of chancel and nave, and a western tower with pinnacles and a spire 138 feet high, containing one bell, the organ was enlarged in 1884: the church was consecrated in August, 1846, and will seat 600 persons, 200 sittings being free. The register dates from the year 1846. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £240, including 3 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Church Patronage Society, and held since 1881 by the Rev. Chas. Bowring Ratcliffe.

The Catholic church, dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, has 120 sittings, and is served from Ipswich; the Congregational chapel affords 1,000 sittings; the Wesleyan chapel, 350; and the Friends’ meeting-house.

The Cemetery, to the south-west of the town, and containing about 5 acres, was consecrated in 1856: it is tastefully laid out and planted with shrubs, and has two mortuary chapels, and is under a Burial Board.

The charity now known as the “Seckford Hospital and Woodbridge Endowed Schools” derives its revenues from an estate in Clerkenwell, London (comprising Sekforde street, Woodbridge street, Suffolk street, part of Aylesbury and St. John streets), left by Thomas Seckford in 1587, and was until 1861 administered, and applied towards the maintenance of 26 aged single men (with nurses) in the Seckford Hospital in Woodbridge; but in 1861, the income of this estate being £3,173 2s. and the trustees having a sum of £20,500 invested in the £3 per Cent. Consols, a scheme was settled by the Court of Chancery by which a local board was established to take the management of the charity: the objects of the charity were by this scheme extended to 13 aged single women or married couples, to reside in the almshouses: provision was made in the above-named scheme for a dispensary for the purpose of affording medical advice and medicine for the inmates of the almshouses, and to such of the inhabitants of Woodbridge and neighbourhood as should be unable to pay for such advice and medicine and should not be in receipt of parochial relief: the charity contributes £200 a year for the support of this institution, it also grants £200 yearly, apportioned by the governors amongst the National, the Infants’ and the British and Foreign schools in Woodbridge: by the scheme of 1880 the governing body consisted of three ex-officio, six representative, and four co-optative governors: but under the scheme of 1891 the governing body consists of three ex-officio, eleven representative and six co-optative governors: the ex-officio governors are the rector and two churchwardens of Woodbridge; the representative governors hold office for five years and are nominated one each by the Bishop of the diocese, the Master of the Rolls, the University of Cambridge, the East Suffolk County Council, the West Suffolk County Council, the Justices of the Eastern Division in Quarter Sessions, the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, the East Suffolk Chamber of Agriculture and the Board of Guardians of the Woodbridge union, and two by the Vestry of Woodbridge. The annual income of the charity derived from estates in Clerkenwell and Woodbridge and a sum of £51,855 India Stock and £3,003 13s. 3d. Consols amounts to £5,146 and is yearly increasing.

The Hospital comprises a fine range of buildings, in the Elizabethan style, standing on an eminence at the west end of Seckford street, and includes a chapel and east and west wings, having fine open arcades: the buildings have a frontage of 337 feet and the inmates have each two rooms and a plot of ground: the gardens are beautifully laid out, and in the front is a noble terrace 560 feet long: the chapel which occupies the centre of the hospital has massive oak fittings, including stalls for the visitors and officers of the charity and seats for the alms people: the cost of the whole was £28,000; the Rev. John Charles Titcombe has been chaplain since 1895.

The Dispensary, opened in 1886 at a cost of about £1,500, is a structure of red brick with stone dressings and half-timbered gables, from designs by Mr. Ernest Currit, architect, and contains two wards, with two beds in each for urgent oases.

There are several charities in connection with the parish church, derived from estates at Martlesham, Melton and Woodbridge, which have been left by various persons for the repair of church and relief of the poor.

The Shire Hall, Market Hill, is a large brick building of Flemish design, and was restored about 1884: the upper part is the place for holding the petty sessions for the division and the lower part is the Corn Exchange.

The Public Room or Lecture Hall in St. John’s street, erected in 1851, is 95 by 33 feet and 22 in height; it is used for dramatic and other entertainments etc. and will hold 500 people; adjoining are reading rooms, containing the library of the Mechanics’ Institution and used also for the meetings of the members. In 1879 the Seckford Reading Room and Social Club was instituted under the patronage of the Seckford governors: the club rooms are over the Lending Library, and comprise reading rooms and a game room, and supplied with papers.

The Fire station was established in 1873, and has two powerful manual engines for country and town work, a van with 1,800 feet of hose and one hand pump; the brigade consists of 16 firemen, fully equipped.

In the Bull Hotel stables there is a stone to the memory of George Carlow, who died in 1738 and is buried in the long stable: he left 20s. to be distributed in bread to the poor annually on February 1st. This hotel includes a large assembly room, capable of holding 400 persons, and is used for auctions and meetings.

The Woodbridge Horticultural Society (now affiliated with the National Rose Society) was established in 1852 and hold an annual meeting in the month of July, when prizes exceeding £170 are awarded to the successful competitors, and a 25 guineas challenge cup is given for roses. Lord Rendlesham is the president.

The links of the Woodbridge Golf Club, situate at Bromeswell, have a course of 18 holes, and there is an excellent club house.

There is a Freemasons’ Lodge. The Lodge of Odd Fellows (M.U.) and also a Foresters’ Court are held at the Bull hotel.

Corn and cattle markets are held on Thursdays; sales are held on the Market hill by Mr. G. A. Shipman. Fairs are held on the third Friday in March and Michaelmas day and the following: the Lady fair held in March, is celebrated for its annual show of horses.

Large quantities of malt and corn and bricks are shipped from Woodbridge, and the imports are coal, timber, seeds, oilcake, wine, spirits and other goods. The vessels connected with this place are mostly of about 20 tons and upwards. There are bonded warehouses, corn mills, maltings and iron foundry.

Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, resided here, and dying in this town 19 Feb. 1849, was buried in the graveyard of the Friends’ meeting house.

The trustees of the late Major Rolla Rouse and William Rouse esq. are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are Captain Ernest George Pretyman M.P. of Orwell Parik, and Maj. E. C. Moor J.P. of Great Bealings.

The area is 1,099 acres of land, 19 of water and 89 of foreshore; rateable value, £18,102; the population in 1891 was 4,477, viz.:-St. Mary’s, 2,066, and St. John’s, 2,411.

Petty Sessions are held every Thursday in the Shire hall, at 1.0 p.m. The following places are included in the petty sessional division:-Aldeburgh, Alderton, Alnesbourne Priory, Bawdsey, Bealinirs Magna, Bealings Parva, Blaxhall, Boulge, Boyton, Bredfield, Brightwell, Bromeswell. Bucklesham, Burgh, Butley, Campsey Ashe, Capel St. Andrew, Charsfield, Chillesford, Clopton, Culpho, Dallinghoo, Debach, Eyke, Falkenham, Felixstowe, Foxhall, Grundisburgh, Hasketon, Hemley, Hollesley, Iken, Kesgrave, Kirton, Levington, Martlesham, Melton, Nacton, Newbourn, Orford, Otley, Petistree, Playford, Purdis, Ramsholt, Rendlesham, Rusihmere, Shottisham, Stratton Hall, Sudborne, Sutton, Trimley St. Mary, Trimley St. Martin, Tuddenham, Tunstall, Ufford, Waldringfield, Walton, Wantisden, Wickham Market, Witnesham & Woodbridge.

WOODBRIDGE UNION

The Union, formed 3 Oct. 1835, comprises the following parishes:-Alderton, Alnesbourne Priory, Bawdsey, Boulge, Boyton, Bredfield, Brightwell, Bromeswell, Bucklesham, Burgh, Capel Saint Andrew, Charsfield, Clopton, Culpho, Dallinghoo, Dallinghoo Weald, Debach, Falkenham, Felixstowe, Foxhall, Great Bealings, Grundisburgh, Hasketon, Hemley, Hollesley, Kesgrave, Kirton, Levington, Little Bealings, Martlesham, Melton, Nacton, Newbourn, Otley, Pettistree, Playford, Purdis farm, Ramsholt, Rushmere St. Andrew, Shottisham, Stratton Hall, Sutton, Trimley Saint Martin, Trimley Saint Mary, Tuddenham Saint Martin, Ufford, Waldringfield, Walton, Westerfield, Witnesham & Woodbridge. The population of the union in 1891 was 23,550; area, 78,474 acres; rateable value in 1900, £148,708.

Board day, every Thur. at 11 a.m. at New st. Woodbridge.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Market hill, Rev. Thomas Housecroft MA. rector; 11 a.m. & 3 & 6.45 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

St. John the Evangelist, St. John’s hill, Rev. Charles Bowring Ratcliffe, vicar; 11 a.m. & 6.45 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Almshouse chapel, Seckford hospital, Rev. John Charles Titcombe, chaplain; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic, Crown place, served from St. Pancras, Ipswich; mass, 11 a.m.; holy days, mass, 9.30 a.m.

Society of Friends’ Meeting house, Turn lane; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Congregational, Quay street, Rev. Thomas Bowes; 10.45 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, St. John’s street, Rev. James S. Bellman; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

WOODBRIDGE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

This school was founded in 1662 by Robert Marryott, of Bredfield, and Francis Burwell, of Sutton, esqrs. and Dorothy Sekforde, of Sekforde Hall, in Great Bealings, widow, for the teaching of 10 poor boys and the sons of all inhabitants of Woodbridge “not tyed to pay above 20s. per annum apiece:” the original endowment for the headmaster was £25 yearly; afterwards a piece of meadow land, known as Willard’s Meadow, was added to the endowment, and in 1806 the capitation fee for town scholars, by order of the Court of Chancery, was made 15s. per quarter: from 1670 to 1688, under the mastership of the Rev. Philip Candler, Woodbridge Grammar School was regarded as one of the first schools in Suffolk, including amongst its scholars boys from the best families of the county: in 1861 the revenues of the school were but £38 yearly, with capitation fees, and the school-house in a dilapidated state: it was therefore proposed to incorporate the charity of Thomas Sekforde with the charity of the Free Grammar School, and this was done by the scheme of 1861; the local trustees were empowered to rebuild upon the old site, or, deeming that insufficient, to select a new site for the erection of a school-room, with residence for the headmaster and room for 25 boarders; the new buildings were erected in 1865 upon a plot of ground nearly abutting upon the Bredfield road and adjoining Willard’s Meadow, the whole containing nearly 5 acres (to which about 4 acres more have since been added): they are in the Elizabethan style, and comprise what is now the science master’s house, large school-room, class-room, studies and a dining hall; the cost of erection, fittings and laying out grounds amounted to nearly £5,000: in 1891 a scheme was framed, and subsequently approved by Her Majesty, under which additional buildings have been erected, comprising a large school-house, with complete accommodation for at least 40 boarders, erected at a cost of about £12,000, class-rooms and chemical laboratory; a carpenter’s shop, gymnasium and fives courts have also been added. The school premises are now 34 acres in extent and include admirable cricket and football grounds: the new school consists of general department in which boys are prepared for the universities, the professions or for commercial life, and technical and scientific departments, the curriculum including agricultural chemistry, mineralogy, botany and practical agriculture. There are Foundation scholarships varying in number, in the form of total or partial exemption from school fees: and also ten Marryott scholarships and five Seckford scholarships, each of the value of not less than £10, nor more than £15 a year, tenable for 4 years; six of the former are competed for by boys whose parents reside in Woodbridge and four by boys educated at elementary schools in the school district of Woodbridge. The Seckford scholarships are open only to boys whose parents reside in Woodbridge or the adjacent parishes, preference being given to boys educated in elementary schools in Woodbridge or parishes adjacent: the school has also several exhibitions, tenable at the places of advanced education or of professional or technical training; these amount at present to over £300 yearly, and may be increased to the aggregate amount of £500, distributed in exhibitions of £50 yearly, for periods of 3 years, and divided equally between the general and scientific departments.

SCHOOLS

National, erected in 1795, for 150 boys, 150 girls & 150 infants; average attendance, 130 boys, 75 girls & 92 infants. A cloak room was added in 1892, & the expenses defrayed by voluntary contributions.

British, erected in 1819, for 124 boys, 140 girls & 100 infants; average attendance, 100 boys, 85 girls & 55 infants. In 1894, the infants’ school was further enlarged to accommodate 20 more children.

WOOLPIT is a parish and large village 1 ½ miles south-west from Elmswell station on the Bury and Ipswich branch of the Great Eastern railway, 8 east from Bury St. Edmunds and 5 ¾ north-west-by-west from Stowmarket, in the North Western division of the county, Thingoe and Thedwastre petty sessional division, Thedwastre hundred, Stow union, county court district of Stowmarket, rural deanery of Thedwastre, archdeaconry of Sudbury and diocese of Ely. The church of St. Mary is a structure of flint in the Decorated style, with numerous Perpendicular additions, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles and an embattled western tower with spire, containing 6 bells: the south porch is of beautiful and elaborate design, with a richly groined oeiling and parvise over, and a fine open parapet: the nave is divided from the aisles by an arcade of five arches and spanned by a double hammerbeam roof of costly description: the wall pieces are wrought into niches filled with figures of saints supported by angels with expanded wings: the aisle roofs are equally rich, and there is also a finely-carved rood screen: the tower and spire were destroyed by lightning during a storm which occurred on the 17th of July, 1852, and have been re-erected at an expense of £2,000: the lectern was given by Queen Elizabeth: there are about 400 sittings.

The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £257, with 35 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of Mrs, Henry Homer Page and her sons, and held since 1896 by the Rev. William Heighway Kirby, B.A. of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. There is a small Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1861, and a meeting room for the Brethren. The Village Institute consists of a house in the centre of the village, converted and fitted for the purpose at a cost of £400. There are several small charities, and a fire brigade is maintained. A short distance from the church is a well called the “Holy Well,” the water of which is said to cure weak eyes. A horse and cattle fair is held annually on the 16th of September. There are large brick and the manufactories: the brick earth obtained in this parish produces bricks of a superior quality, for which it has long been celebrated. Evelyn George Harcourt Powell esq. of Drinkstone Park, is lord of the manor. The trustees of the late Lieut.-Col. Walter Robert Tyrell, Duncan Parker esq. of Clopton Hall, Bury St. Edmunds and John Lord esq. are the principal landowners. The soil is principally a stiff clay; subsoil, the same. The chief crops are wheat, barley and turnips. The area is 1,877 acres assessable value, £2,556; population in 1891, 1,018.

A School Board of 5 members was formed in 1877; C. D. Leech, jun. South Hill house. Board School opened in 1895 and built at a cost of £2.000; it will hold 240 children; average attendance,180.