Risbridge is a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Suffolk, consisting of . Risbridge Hundred forms the south western corner of Suffolk extending from north to south and between 4 and in breadth. It is bounded on the west by

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

on the south by

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, on the east by Babergh and Thingoe Hundreds and on the north by Lackford Hundred. It is in the Franchise or

Liberty of St Edmund The Liberty of St Edmund covers the entire area of the former administrative County of West Suffolk. This area had been established by Edward the Confessor in 1044 and was a separate jurisdiction under the control of the Abbot of Bury St Edmunds ...

, in the Archdeaconry of Sudbury, Deanery of Clare and Diocese of Ely. The southern boundary with Essex is formed by the River Stour and the hundred is crossed by a number of streams. It is generally a fertile agricultural area with predominantly

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

soil. The major towns in the hundred are Clare and Haverhill. Listed as ''Risebruge'' in the

Domesday Book 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 manus ...

, the meaning of the name is not fully understood but probably "Hrisa's bridge" or a similar personal name. The bridge in question would almost certainly have crossed the Stour, an important crossing at a time when bridges were rare. However similar place-names (ex: Ricebridge near Leigh in Surrey, Risbro in Sweden) are believed to have been bridges with a causeway over marshy land made from brushwood (ris) held by wooden pegs.

Parishes

Risbridge Hundred consisted of the following 32 parishes and hamlets:1841 Census

References

{{Coord, 52.1, 0.6, type:adm3rd_dim:20000_region:GB-SFK, display=title Hundreds of Suffolk Risbridge Hundred