Playford is a small village in

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 ...

, England, on the outskirts 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 ...

. It has about 215 residents in 90 households. The name comes from the Old English '' plega'' meaning play, sport; used of a place for games, or a courtship or mating-place for animals, and the Old English ''

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 ...

'' meaning a place where a stream or river can be crossed. Villages nearby include Rushmere,

Little Bealings Little Bealings is a village in Suffolk, England. It has a population of approximately 470 people living in around 185 households. The population had fallen to 420 at the 2011 Census. Its nearest towns are Ipswich ( away) and Woodbridge ( awa ...

Great Bealings Great Bealings is a small village in Suffolk, England. It has about 302 people living in it in around 113 households. Its nearest towns are Ipswich ( away) and Woodbridge (). Nearby villages include Little Bealings, Playford, Culpho, Has ...

Culpho Culpho (pronounced Cul-fo) is a hamlet and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, about northeast of the centre of Ipswich and west of Woodbridge. Culpho's population is less than 100, so the Office for National Statistics i ...

and

Grundisburgh Grundisburgh is a village of 1,584 residents situated in the English county of Suffolk. It is in the East Suffolk district, six north-east from Ipswich and north-west of Woodbridge located on the B1079. Flowing through the village are the ri ...

. There are no pubs or shops in Playford, although it has a church (St Mary's) and a village hall.

Notable residents

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

(1760-1846), the slave trade abolitionist, lived at Playford Hall from 1816 until his death and is buried in the churchyard. Insufficient credit has been given to Clarkson for his life's work: it was he who initiated the task, produced the necessary evidence and provided the momentum while

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

fought for the cause in Parliament. * Sir George Biddell Airy (1801–92) was the seventh

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

from 1835 to 1881. Today he might also have been called Government Chief Scientist, for among his many accomplishments was the establishment of the

Greenwich Meridian The historic prime meridian or Greenwich meridian is a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. The modern IERS Reference Meridian widely used today ...

in 1884. There are craters on Mars and the moon named after him. * Arthur Biddell (1783-1860) of Hill House, was a pre-eminent Suffolk farmer, an industrious land surveyor at the time of the tithe commutations and an inventor of agricultural machinery which was manufactured by his in-laws

Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies Limited was a major British agricultural machinery maker also producing a wide range of general engineering products in Ipswich, Suffolk including traction engines, trolleybuses, ploughs, lawn mowers, combine harves ...

of Ipswich. *

Francis Seymour Stevenson Francis Seymour Stevenson (24 November 1862 – 9 April 1938) was a British Liberal Party politician, author and scholar. He was elected at the 1885 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Eye in Suffolk, and held the seat until his ...

(1862-1938) of Playford Mount was Liberal MP for the Eye Division 1885–1906. His over-enthusiasm for the construction of the

Mid-Suffolk Light Railway The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) was a standard gauge railway intended to open up an agricultural area of central Suffolk; it took advantage of the reduced construction cost enabled by the Light Railways Act 1896. It was launched with consi ...

to help his rural constituents during the agricultural depression caused both his own bankruptcy and that of the railway for which he had to resign his seat. In 1895 he became the first chairman of Playford Parish Council. * Sir William Aitken, a journalist and politician who was an MP for 14 years, and his wife,

Penelope, Lady Aitken Penelope Loader, Lady Aitken, MBE (2 December 1910 – 7 February 2005), styled The Honourable Lady Aitken and nicknamed 'Pempe', was an English socialite. Biography Born Penelope Loader Maffey, she was the daughter of Sir John Maffey, later ...

, a socialite nicknamed 'Pempe', also lived at Playford Hall. Their son is the disgraced former Conservative MP and Cabinet minister

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving unt ...

. They are both buried in the churchyard of St Mary. *

Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet (12 October 1649 – 3 March 1709), of Whitehall, Westminster and Playford, Suffolk, was an English courtier and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1690 and 1709 . Felton was the son of Sir ...

, a politician of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, is buried in the chancel of the church. *

Anna Airy Anna Airy (6 June 1882 – 23 October 1964) was an English oil painter, pastel artist and etcher. She was one of the first women officially commissioned as a war artist and was recognised as one of the leading women artists of her generation. ...

, artist.

Gallery

Image:PlayfordChurch.JPG, St Mary's church Image:FynnValleyPlayford.JPG, The Fynn Valley, from Playford bridge Image:PlayfordHall.jpg, Playford Hall

External links

The Playford Village web site

References

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk