Bredfield is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. It is situated just off the A12, two miles north of

Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland'' *Woodbridge, Tasmania Canada *Woodbridge, Ontario England *Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of ** Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...

. Another village,

Dallinghoo Dallinghoo is a village about north of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Location Dallinghoo is formed from Church Road to the west, Pound Hill to the south and branches northeast after the centre of the village. Dallinghoo Village Hall is on ...

, is to the north, and to the west is

Boulge Boulge is a hamlet and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is about north of Woodbridge. The population remained only minimal at the 2011 Census and was included in the civil parish of Debach. The place-name is ...

, a small hamlet. The population of Bredfield at the 2001 census was 308 (including 10 students living outside the village), the population increasing to 340 at the 2011 Census. The first mention of Bredfield is in

Little Domesday Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086, as Brēde Felda (or various permutations thereof) in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

, meaning "broad clearing". The historic building

Bredfield House Bredfield House (or White House as it was also known) was a now-demolished country house situated in the village of Bredfield, around 2 miles north of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. It was a Jacobean building and was traditionall ...

, the birthplace of poet and writer Edward FitzGerald, used to be situated in the village; however, it was damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and has since been demolished. There is a historic non-denominational chapel (built in 1902) and a historic parish church (St Andrew's, dating from the 13th century). The Castle Inn public house has stood in the village since at last 1808 and remains a centre of village social life. The village primary school, which also served surrounding villages, opened in 1853 and closed in 1986, and a number of its former pupils are still resident in the village. Like many small villages, Bredfield was unable to sustain not only the school but also a privately run grocery shop, the last one also closing in 1986. However, the villagers got together and started a community shop, initially in a

portacabin A portable, demountable or transportable building is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located. Smaller version of portable buildings are also known as portable cabins. Portable cabins are prefabricated structu ...

but eventually moving into a purpose-built extension to the village hall. A further example of the practical expression of the community spirit in the village is the recent establishment of an award-winning Jubilee Meadow conservation area and community orchard, development of which is ongoing.Jubilee Meadow and Orchard on the Bredfield OneSuffolk website
- viewed on 13 September 2015 There are several small businesses in the village, which is surrounded by farmland. Bredfield is the likely real world location of Dr. Rant/ Mr. Eldred's house who are both characters who appear in the Tractate Middoth a short ghost story by

M.R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

first published in

More Ghost Stories ''More Ghost Stories'' is a horror short story collection by British writer M. R. James, published in 1911. Some later editions under the title ''Ghost Stories of an Antiquary'' contain it and the earlier ''Ghost Stories of an Antiquary'' in one ...

References

External links

Bredfield on OneSuffolk.netBredfield.org.uk
* http://bredfieldchapel.com Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk {{Suffolk-geo-stub