Hinderclay 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 authority ...
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
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 ...
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 ...
. The village is located around - from
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
in an area of rolling arable land to the south of the
Little Ouse river valley. Neighbouring villages include
Thelnetham
Thelnetham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the southern bank of the River Little Ouse (the Norfolk-Suffolk border), six miles west of Diss, in 2005 its population was 230. The ...
and
Rickinghall
Rickinghall is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The village is split between two parishes, Rickinghall Inferior and Rickinghall Superior, which join with Botesdale to make a single built-up area.
There used to be many ...
. In 2005 its population was 340.
[ The parish also contains the hamlet of Thorpe Street.
The parish church is dedicated to St Mary and was thatched until 1842. Hinderclay Hall is to the south of the village. A tower mill used to stand in The Street. It was demolished either in 1920 or 1955. Two pubs used to exist in the village. First, the Bell (formerly Six Bells) is now residential and known as Orchard House. The old pub was also located close to a bend in the road still known locally as "Bells Corner" (on Bells Lane) and secondly, the Crown.
]
History
Nearby, on the edge of Hinderclay wood, were found the remains of an early Iron Age settlement. Roman pottery kilns were found in the wood. The village was recorded in Domesday as "Hilderclea" (from the Anglo-Saxon for "tongue of land in a river where the elder grew").
Natural environment
The northern boundary of the parish (also the border with Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
) is marked by the River Little Ouse
The River Little Ouse is a river in the east of England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. For much of its length it defines the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk.
It rises east of Thelnetham, close to the source of the River Waveney, wh ...
, with the area directly south of the river known as Hinderclay fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...
. This used to form part of the Blo' Norton and Thelnetham Fen
Blo' Norton and Thelnetham Fens are a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Blo' Norton Fen is in the parish of Blo' Norton in Norfolk and Thelnetham Fen is in Thelnetham parish in Suffolk. It is a ...
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
, a wetland site, but agricultural drainage caused the area to dry out. The area is managed by the Little Ouse Headwaters Project
The Little Ouse Headwaters Project (LOHP) was set up in 2002 by local residents to promote conservation and enjoyment of the fenland habitats bordering the upper reaches of the River Little Ouse, which lies on the Norfolk-Suffolk border. The site ...
with the aim of reverting it to a more natural wetland state.
Notable people
*Thomas Fowle
Thomas Fowle (''c.'' 1530 – after 1597) was a Church of England clergyman, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, rector of Redgrave and Hinderclay, Suffolk, and prebendary of Norwich Cathedral.
He was briefly tutor to Edward de Vere, th ...
, rector 1561 to 1566.
* Thomas Carter, first pastor of Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of governme ...
1642–1684.[J. Venn, '']Alumni Cantabrigienses
''Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900'' is a biographical register of former members of the University of Cambridge whic ...
'' Part I vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press, 1922)
p. 301
(Internet Archive).
References
External links
Parish Council websiteChurch website
Villages in Suffolk
Civil parishes in Suffolk
Mid Suffolk District
{{Suffolk-geo-stub