Otley 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

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

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 around north-east of

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 r ...

in the

East Suffolk district East Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England, which was established on 1 April 2019, following the merger of the existing Suffolk Coastal and Waveney districts. At the 2011 census, the two districts had a combined population of ...

. The parish, which covers an area of about , had a population of 676 at the

2011 United Kingdom census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

. The B1079 road runs through the village, meeting the B1078 to the south of the parish at Otley Green.Otley
Healthy Suffolk, 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2021. The village has a number of amenities, including a shop, public house, village hall, doctors surgery and two churches. The village primary school is small and educates around 50 pupils. In the south of the parish, Suffolk Rural College delivers a range of agricultural and other vocational courses. The college originally opened in 1970 as Otley College of Agriculture and Horticulture and became part of Ipswich-based

Suffolk New College Suffolk New College (formerly Suffolk College) is a further education college in Ipswich. It provides courses for students from across south Suffolk. In 2009 it constructed a new building costing £70 million. Overview Suffolk New College is ...

in 2020. Otley Hall, a 15th-century

Grade I listed 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 ...

house which was historically the seat of the family of

Bartholomew Gosnold Bartholomew Gosnold (1571 – 22 August 1607) was an English barrister, explorer and privateer who was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company in London and Jamestown in colonial America. He led the first recorded European expedition to ...

, is to the north of the village. To the south of the village is a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...

castle site and a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

crossed the parish towards its southern boundary.Otley
Suffolk Heritage Explorer,

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the administrative authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Government Association. History Establ ...

. Retrieved 22 June 2021. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and dates from the 15th century. It has what is believed to be one of the oldest total immersion baptismal font in any English Anglican church. The church is a Grade II* listed building. Otley Baptist Chapel is situated on Chapel Road and dates from 1800. The building was significantly enlarged in the 1830s, at which point it became a

Strict Baptist Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith ...

chapel. On the morning of 30 March 1851 it had a congregation of 462, over four times that of the Anglican church, with another congregation, of 562, in the afternoon. The modern chapel seats 500. Otley is the birthplace of

Roger Osborne Roger Charles Osborne (born 9 March 1950) is a former professional association football, footballer who is best known for scoring the winning goal in the 1978 FA Cup Final. Biography Born in Otley, Suffolk, Otley, East Suffolk (county), East S ...

who scored the only goal of the game in the

1978 FA Cup Final The 1978 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Arsenal and Ipswich Town on 6 May 1978 at the old Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 1977–78 FA Cup, the 97th season of the world's oldest football knockout com ...

for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. It was also for many years, the home of

Percy Edwards Percy Edwards (1 June 1908 – 7 June 1996) was an English animal impersonator, entertainer and ornithologist. Biography As a child, Edwards was fascinated by the wildlife he found in his local area, and by the age of 12 was accomplished eno ...

, famous for his impressions of birds and other animal noises.Gifford D (2011
Obituary: Percy Edwards
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 23 October 2011. Retrieved June 2016.

Notes

References

External links

Otley Village websiteOtley Hall website
Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk {{Suffolk-geo-stub