Rendlesham 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

near Woodbridge,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, United Kingdom. It was a royal centre of authority for the king of the East Angles. The proximity of the

Sutton Hoo Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeology, Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when an undisturbed ship burial containing a wea ...

ship burial may indicate a connection between Sutton Hoo and the East Anglian royal house, the

Wuffingas The Wuffingas, Uffingas or Wiffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Wuffingas took their name from Wuffa, an early East Anglian kin ...

. The king of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, Swithhelm (son of Seaxbald) who reigned from 660 to around 664, was baptised at Rendlesham by Bishop

Cedd Cedd (; 620 – 26 October 664) was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from the Kingdom of Northumbria. He was an evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, a meeting which r ...

with King

Æthelwold of East Anglia Æthelwold, also known as Æthelwald or Æþelwald (Old English: ''Æþelwald'' "noble ruler"; reigned c. 654 – 664), was a 7th-century king of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfo ...

acting as his godfather. He died around the time of the great plague of 664 and may have been buried at the palace of Rendlesham. An archaeology project has identified a large settlement of more than 124 acres (50 hectares). Its name is recorded in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

about 730 AD as ''Rendlæsham'', which may mean "Homestead belonging to man namedRendel", or it may come from a theorized Old English word *''rendel'' = "little shore". The Church of St Gregory the Great in Rendlesham is a Grade I listed medieval church. Rendlesham Hall, a large manor house, was demolished in 1949.A Vision of Britain through time
University of Portsmouth Rendlesham Forest, owned by

Forestry England Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. Forest Enterprise, the precursor to Forestry England, was originally formed as a Great Britain-wide organizati ...

, is a mixed woodland with recreation facilities for walkers, cyclists and campers. It is part of the Sandlings Forest

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 ...

. The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of reported sightings of unexplained pulsing lights off the coast of Orford Ness in December 1980. During the summer of 2012, scenes of the movie ''

Fast & Furious 6 ''Fast & Furious 6'' (titled onscreen as ''Furious 6'') is a 2013 action film directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to ''Fast Five'' (2011) and the sixth installment in the '' Fast & Furious'' franchise. The fil ...

'' were filmed on the former RAF Bentwaters airfield.Hollywood blockbuster Fast and Furious 6 shoots at Bentwaters
East Anglian Daily Times Some scholars have suggested Rendlesham as the site where the

epic poem ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'' was first composed and performed.

Governance

An East Suffolk

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

called Rendlesham & Orford exists. The former Rendlesham ward included Campsea Ashe and at the 2011 Census had a total population of 3,388.

Notable residents

Anglo-Saxon King of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

who reigned between c. 654–664 * William Wheatcroft (by 1517 – 1558?), Member of Parliament for

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

in 1558 * Leonard Mawe (c. 1552 – 1629),

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

and a Master of

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. *

Laurence Echard Laurence Echard (c. 1670–1730) was an English historian and clergyman. He wrote a ''History of England'' that was a standard work in its time. Life Echard was the son of the Rev. Thomas Echard or Eachard of Barsham, Suffolk, by his wife, th ...

(c. 1670–1730), historian and clergyman * Anne Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton (1720–1771), aristocrat * Peter Thellusson, 1st Baron Rendlesham (1761–1808), merchant, banker, and politician. He served as Member of Parliament for

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester District in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother (Western), River Rother, inland from the English Channel and north of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first reco ...

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

Castle Rising Castle Rising is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Castle Rising is located along the course of the River Babingley, separating the village from the lost village of Babingley. The village is located north-east ...

, and

Bossiney Bossiney (, meaning ''Kyni's dwelling'') is a village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is north-east of the larger village of Tintagel which it adjoins: further north-east are the Rocky Valley and Trethevy. Until 1832 the village, ...

. * Frederick Thellusson, 4th Baron Rendlesham (1798–1852), Member of Parliament for East Suffolk * Frederick Thellusson, 5th Baron Rendlesham (1840–1911), Member of Parliament for East Suffolk * Edith Austin (1867–1953), professional tennis player * Michael Bunbury (1946- ), businessman and chairman of the Council of the

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is an estate of the British sovereign. The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke, the then duke of Lancast ...

References

BBC: East Saxon kings

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk

Governance

Notable residents

See also

References

External links