Framlingham is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

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 authorit ...

in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086

Domesday Book 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 manus ...

. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 Census and an estimated 4,016 in 2019. Nearby villages include

Earl Soham Earl Soham is a small settlement in Suffolk, England. It is on the A1120 road and is west of the town of Framlingham. Earl Soham once belonged to the Earls of Norfolk, the Bigod family (sometimes spelt "Bigot" in old texts), who also owned near ...

Kettleburgh Kettleburgh is a small village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk. The population of this Civil Parish at the 2011 Census was 231. It is near the small towns of Wickham Market and Framlingham in the valley of ...

, Parham, Saxtead and Sweffling.

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name exists. The parish stretches north-east to Brundish with a total ward population taken at the 2011 Census of 4,744.

Features

Framlingham's history can be traced to an entry in the

(1086) when it then consisted of several manors. The medieval

Framlingham Castle Framlingham Castle is a castle in the market town of Framlingham in Suffolk in England. An early motte and bailey or ringwork Norman castle was built on the Framlingham site by 1148, but this was destroyed (slighted) by Henry II of England in ...

is a major feature and tourist attraction for the area, managed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. Mary Tudor (daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon) was proclaimed the first Queen of England there in 1553. It is referred to in

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...

's 2017 single "

Castle on the Hill "Castle on the Hill" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album '' ÷'' (2017), along with "Shape of You". "Castle on the Hill" was writt ...

", Sheeran having grown up in Framlingham. There is a large lake or mere next to it which used to supply the castle with fish. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. A nature walk in woodland can be made around the mere.There is also a large meadow adjacent to the Castle which holds various outdoor events and productions in the summer and where people can picnic. The town is home to the comprehensive secondary Thomas Mills High School, the independent school

Framlingham College Framlingham College is a public school (independent day and boarding school) in the town of Framlingham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Together with its preparatory school and nursery at Brandeston Hall, it serves pupils from 3 to 18 ye ...

, the Church of St Michael the Archangel, which dates from the 12th century (the main rebuilding dates from the late 15th and 16th centuries), and Framlingham Town F.C. The town has the two oldest functioning Post Office

pillar box A pillar box is a type of free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories, and, less commonly, in many members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Cyprus, India, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Malta, New Z ...

es in the UK, dating from 1856, located in Double Street and in College Road. The pillar boxes are marked V. R. Victoria Regina, after Queen Victoria. Framlingham also has one of the smallest houses in Britain, known as the "Check House". Converted into a two-storey residence of under 29 square metres, the former bookmakers officeS. Howes, 201
Tiny UK house with a giant price-tag
Sydney Morning Herald 16 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011 is in the Mauldens Mill Estate in the town centre. The ground floor measures by . There is a traditional English market in the town square, Market Hill, every Tuesday and Saturday mornings offering fruit and vegetables, artisan bread and cakes, fresh fish, coffee, cheese and pies, and other occasional stalls. Framlingham has a small museum currently located within the castle Framlingham is surrounded by agricultural land. It lies some 14 miles from the coastal town of

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

and 20 miles from

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is ...

. It is also 10 miles from the renowned music centre of

Snape Maltings Snape Maltings is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, England. It is best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. The original purpose of the Maltings was the m ...

. It is approximately 5 miles from the A12, one of the main arteries into and out of Suffolk and approximately 15 miles north east of Ipswich. In 2006 '' Country Life'' magazine voted Framlingham the best place to live in the country. Framlingham has a conservation area. An oak tree planted in 1911 in honour of the Coronation of King George V survives outside the old railway station, now a pub named ''The Station'' in Station Road. Framlingham was the main location for the BBC television comedy series ''

Detectorists ''Detectorists'' is a British comedy television series first broadcast on BBC Four in October 2014. It is written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, who also stars alongside Toby Jones. The series is set in the fictional small town of Danebury i ...

'', starring

Mackenzie Crook Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in ''The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones ...

Toby Jones Tobias Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. Jones made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama '' Orlando'' in 1992. H ...

and

Rachael Stirling Rachael Atlanta Stirling (born 30 May 1977).. is an English stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Laurence Olivier Award for her stage work. She played Nancy Astley in the BBC drama '' Tipping the Velvet'', an ...

. It has also appeared in numerous other TV programmes. A famous family orientated sausage festival is held in October. This event has butchers from Framlingham and the surrounding villages competing for the trophy of best sausage in the area. The town is closed to traffic on the day and people follow a map around the town sampling the different flavoured sausages and voting for their favourite. There is also market stalls and entertainment held on market hill on the day. Other festivals and events are held in the town and around the castle throughout the year.

Education

Framlingham College is an independent, co-educational secondary school for boarders and day students, opened as Albert Memorial College in 1865 in memory of Albert, Prince Consort. Its associated preparatory school is at Brandeston Hall. Thomas Mills High School, dating from 1751, is considerably older than Framlingham College. It is a mixed secondary state school for pupils aged 11–18, which gained

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

status in 2011. The singer Ed Sheeran attended this school. Framlingham's primary school is Sir Robert Hitcham's Church of England Voluntary Primary School, dating back to at least 1654. It now has circa 350 pupils and another 26 in its nursery.

Transport

The Framlingham Branch connected Framlingham by rail with the main

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

to Lowestoft East Suffolk line at Wickham Market. The

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

building stands adjacent to the ''Station Hotel''. The branch closed to passenger traffic in the 1950s and to goods in the 1960s. The nearest stations today are Wickham Market () at Campsea Ashe and

Saxmundham Saxmundham ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England, set in the valley of the River Fromus about north-east of Ipswich and west of the coast at Sizewell. The town is bypassed by the main A12 road between London and Lowestoft. The town is ser ...

(), both on the East Suffolk Line. The town is at the junction of the B1116, B1119 and B1120 roads, four miles (6.4 km) west of the A12. The local bus services are detailed on the Suffolk On Board site.

Sport and leisure

Framlingham has a Non-League football club, Framlingham Town F.C., which plays at Badingham Road, where there is a sports club offering tennis, archery, badminton, hockey and croquet. It is also where the cycling club meets. The town has a rambling club and an active Scout and Cubs group. The modern St John Ambulance Centre is in Fairfield Road. Framlingham College, an Independent School has a swimming pool and gymnasium open to the public in pre-booked slots. Membership fees are required. There are four pubs in the town, namely: ''The Castle Inn'', ''The Railway'', ''The Station'' and ''The Crown'' (which is also a restaurant and hotel). There is a library, a post office, a pharmacy, a small supermarket and a selection of specialised shops and coffee shops. The town attracts a number of tourists, particularly in the summer months, drawn to the town itself, the castle, St Michael's Church and walks that are available around the town of the stunning countryside .

Notable people

In order of birth: *

Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (144321 May 1524), styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1485 and again from 1489 to 1514, was an English nobleman, soldier and statesman who served four monarchs. He was the eldest son of John Howard, 1st Du ...

(1443–1524), who held office under four kings, died at

. *Sir Robert Hitcham (c. 1572–1636), was a member of Parliament, attorney general and philanthropist, who bought Framlingham Castle in 1635. *

Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, (13 August 15843 June 1640) was an English nobleman and politician. Born at the family estate of Saffron Walden, he was the son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, by his second wife, Catherine Kny ...

, KG (1584–1640), politician, owned Framlingham Castle until 1635. *

Thomas Danforth Thomas Danforth (baptized November 20, 1623 – November 5, 1699) was a politician, magistrate, and landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A conservative Puritan, he served for many years as one of the colony's councilors and magistrates, ...

, a Massachusetts Bay Colony magistrate and landowner born in 1623 in Framlingham, son of Nicholas *

Samuel Danforth Samuel Danforth (1626–1674) was a Puritan minister, preacher, poet, and astronomer, the second pastor of The First Church in Roxbury and an associate of the Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury, Massachusetts, known as the “Apostle to the Indians.” ...

, poet, Puritan and evangelist to American Indians, born in 1626 in Framlingham, son of Nicholas *

Nicholas Revett Nicholas Revett (1720–1804) was a British architect. Revett is best known for his work with James "Athenian" Stuart documenting the ruins of ancient Athens. He is sometimes described as an amateur architect, but he played an important role in t ...

, architect and theorist, born in Framlingham in 1720 *

Alethea Lewis Alethea Lewis (born 19 December 1749, buried 12 November 1827) was an English novelist, born at Acton, near Nantwich, Cheshire. She also used the pseudonym Eugenia de Acton. Her subject-matter centres on her profound Christianity and her belief i ...

(1749–1787), the novelist, brought up by her maternal grandfather in Framlingham * Edmund Goodwyn (1756–1832), physician born in Framlingham, who discovered the

diving reflex The diving reflex, also known as the diving response and mammalian diving reflex, is a set of physiological responses to immersion that overrides the basic homeostatic reflexes, and is found in all air-breathing vertebrates studied to date. It o ...

* Robert Hindes Groome (1810–1889), composer, author and cleric, born in Framlingham * Henry Thompson (1820–1894), polymath and surgeon who operated on the Belgian royal family, born in Framlingham * John Cordy Jeaffreson (1831–1901), writer and lawyer, born in Framlingham * Samuel Cornell Plant (1866–1921), master mariner and Senior Inspector, Upper

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

What's the link between these girls and a hardly-known Suffolk 'hero' honoured by China?
''

East Anglian Daily Times The ''East Anglian Daily Times'' is a British local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich. History The newspaper began publication on 13 October 1874, incorporating the ''Ipswich Express'', which had been published since 13 August ...

'', 14 December 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2020. * Francis Stocks (1873–1929), county cricketer, died in Framlingham * Frederick Bird (1875–1965), county cricketer and cleric, born in Framlingham *

Michael Lord Michael Nicholson Lord, Baron Framlingham (born 17 October 1938) is a British politician, and was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich between 1997 and 2010. He was first elected for the predecessor seat of ...

(born 1938), deputy speaker and MP for the town, took the title Baron Framlingham rather than "Lord Lord" on becoming a life peer. * Charles Freeman (born 1947), former Head of History at St Clare's, Oxford, and teacher of Ancient History for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

's Extramural programme, was a prolific author on ancient, Christian and early medieval history. * Alice Russell (born 1976), soul singer, grew up in Framlingham. * Christina Johnston (born 1989), classical coloratura soprano, grew up in Framlingham and attended

. * Laura Wright (born 1990), classical/popular crossover soprano, grew up in Framlingham. *

(born 1991), singer–songwriter, grew up in Framlingham and attended Thomas Mills High School. The town is the subject of his hit single "

References

External links

The Framlingham websiteFramlingham.com
*'' The History of Framlingham, in the County of Suffolk: Including Brief Notices of the Masters and Fellows of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge, from the Foundation of the College, to the Present Time'', Robert Hawes & Robert Loder, published 1798 *
The History, Topography, and Antiquities of Framlingham and Saxsted, in the County of Suffolk
', R. Green, published 1834 {{authority control Civil parishes in Suffolk Market towns in Suffolk Towns in Suffolk