Gedding is a 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 authorit ...

in the

Mid Suffolk Mid Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council was based in Needham Market until late 2017, and is currently sharing offices with the Suffolk County Council in Ipswich. The largest town of Mid Suffolk is Stowmarket. ...

district of Suffolk in eastern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Located around six miles south east of Bury St Edmunds. At the 2011 census its population was 125, rising to 134 at the 2018 ONS mid year estimate.

History

The village's name derives from the

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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

phrase meaning ''Gydda's People''. In 1086 it is recorded in the

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 ...

as ''Geldinga'' with 18 households made up of 15 freemen and 3 smallholders along with 5 acres of meadow. The land was held by Bury Abbey and

William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Lord of Lewes, Seigneur de Varennes (died 1088), was a Norman nobleman created Earl of Surrey under William II Rufus. He is among the few known from documents to have fought under William the Conqueror ...

. There were two

windmills A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some par ...

in the parish, both were

Post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. All p ...

s with one existing from 1783 to c. 1904. The other post mill came from

Felsham Felsham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 its population was 420. History The origin of the name "Felsham" is not clear, but one theory gives its meaning as ''Faela'' or "pleasant e ...

in 1867 having been originally constructed in 1824, it was demolished in 1944, on the journey from Felsham it was pulled by 26 horses and got stuck at a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. There are six

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s in Gedding, four are grade II with the early C.16th Gedding Hall being grade II* listed and the grade I church of St Mary.

Bradfield Woods

Bradfield Woods National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest is located just to the west of the village.Bradfield Woods NNR
, Natural England. Retrieved 2013-05-29.

References

External links

Gedding & Felsham community magazine
Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District Thedwastre Hundred {{Suffolk-geo-stub