Ringsfield 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 south-west of

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is shown on the milestone as from London via the A145 and A12 roads, north-east of London as the crow fli ...

in the East Suffolk district. The parish had a population of 323 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 ...

. It borders the parishes of Beccles,

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

Redisham Redisham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is located south-west of Beccles and north-east of Halesworth in the East Suffolk district. The population of the parish was 125 at the 2011 United Kingdom census. ...

Ilketshall St Andrew Ilketshall St Andrew is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is south-east of Bungay and the same distance south-west of Beccles in the East Suffolk district. St Andrew's church is one of around 40 ro ...

and Barsham. The parish council operates jointly with Weston.Welcome to the Ringsfield and Weston Website
Ringsfield and Weston Parish Council. Retrieved 2021-02-19.

History

At the

Domesday survey 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 manusc ...

of 1086 Ringsfield was a large village with a population of 100 households. Most of the land was in the direct holdings of King William, with other holdings controlled by

Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

and

Roger Bigot Roger Bigod (died 1107) was a Norman knight who travelled to England in the Norman Conquest. He held great power in East Anglia, and five of his descendants were earls of Norfolk. He was also known as Roger Bigot, appearing as such as a witness t ...

.Ringsfield
Open Domesday. Retrieved 2021-02-19. It formed part of

Wangford Hundred Wangford was a hundred of Suffolk, England, consisting of . Wangford Hundred was an area of around from west to east and five across. The River Waveney formed its northern border separating it from Norfolk. To the east lay Mutford and Lothinglan ...

.Ringsfield
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 2021-02-19. Suckling AI (1846) 'Ringsfield', in ''The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: Volume 1'', pp.67–71. Ipswich: WS Crowell.
Available online
at British History Online. Retrieved 2021-02-19.) The manor passed through a number of families, including the Roos family of nearby

Roos Hall Roos Hall (or sometimes Rose Hall) is a manor house and former manor ½ a mile (¾km) west of Beccles in Suffolk. It is a Grade I listed building.English Heritag''Images of England - Roos Hall'' Retrieved 2009-04-24. It is said to be among the ...

. The population of the parish grew to over 300 by the 19th-century. It declined in the early 20th-century, although house building since the 1970s has led to an increase. The parish was combined with Little Redisham, around south west of Ringsfield, in 1627. The former St James' church was in ruins by the early 17th-century and now forms part of the park surrounding Redisham Hall, the northern part of which is located within Ringsfield parish.Monument record RGD 002 - Church of St James, Little Redisham/Redisham Hall Park
Suffolk Heritage Explorer,

. Retrieved 2021-02-19. Suckling AI (1846) 'Little Redisham', in ''The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: Volume 1'', pp.61–67. Ipswich: WS Cowell.
Available online
at British History Online. Retrieved 2021-02-19.) Redisham Hall was originally built in the 16th-century and is the site of a likely embarked

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...

.Monument record RGD 003 - Redisham Hall Park
Suffolk Heritage Explorer,

. Retrieved 2021-02-19. It was rebuilt in 1823 by John Garden to replace a previous Elizabethan house. It is a Grade II listed building located in of parkland partly in the parish, to the south-west of the village. It passed down in the Garden family to John Lewis Garden, a big game hunter and husband of

Caroline Murat Carolina Maria Annunziata Bonaparte Murat Macdonald ( French: ''Caroline Marie Annonciade Bonaparte''; 25 March 1782 – 18 May 1839), better known as Caroline Bonaparte, was an Imperial French princess; the seventh child and third daughter of Ca ...

.Redisham Hall, Ringsfield
List entry,

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

. Retrieved 2021-02-19. Parts of the hall are now used as holiday cottages.

Culture and community

The modern village is concentrated around a crossroads at Ringsfield Corner, south of the parish church. The boundary divides this community, with some of the housing within the Weston parish area.Ringsfield and Weston
Healthy Suffolk, 2016. Retrieved 2021-02-19. Ringsfield Hall, in the north of the parish, is an outdoor education centre. The village has a primary school, village hall with a playing field an tennis courts, and a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the ''Horseshoes''. Few other services remain.Ringsfield Horseshoes
Suffolk Pubs, Suffolk

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is th ...

. Retrieved 2009-04-20

Church of All Saints

Monument to Caroline de Chassiron - geograph

The parish church is dedicated to All Saints. The building is medieval in origin, with a tower built in 1450. It was refurbished in the 1880s.Church of All Saints
List entry,

. Retrieved 2021-02-19.Knott S (2021
All Saints, Ringsfield
Suffolk Churches. Retrieved 2021-03-04. The churchyard contains the grave and memorial of the American born Princess Caroline Murat (1833–1902), great niece of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and granddaughter of Joachim Murat, King of Naples. She lived and died at Redisham Hall after marrying John Lewis Garden, whose family seat it was. The church is a Grade II*

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 ...

. The former St James' church at Little Redisham is in ruins.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Waveney District