Tattingstone 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 ...

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 Shotley peninsula about south 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 ...

. The 2011 Census recorded the population as 540.

History

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 manusc ...

of 1086 records the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

as ''Tatituna'' or ''Tatistuna''. It the location of Tattingstone Place and the

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

known as the

Tattingstone Wonder The Tattingstone Wonder is a folly at Tattingstone in Suffolk, England. Located some south of Ipswich the Tattingstone Wonder was originally two cottages. In 1790 Edward White, the local squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shiel ...

, a row of cottages disguised as a church by adding a flint façade and a dummy tower. The parish has three distinct settlements. The main settlement includes the church, Tattingstone Park and the former Samford House of Industry, or Workhouse (1766–1930). This site was used as St Mary's hospital until it was redeveloped for housing in 1991. Tattingstone Heath is located on the A137, whilst a small hamlet close to the White Horse is connected to the rest of the parish by Lemons Hill bridge over the western end of Alton reservoir. The Tattingstone Estate was bequeathed to Mr Western by his father's first cousin Thomas White in 1808. Tattingstone Church (OS grid TM1337) has a vault dedicated for Thomas Western (died 1814) and his wife Giulietta Roman (died 1850) and Thomas White (died 1808). The church was robbed on Thursday, 16 October 2008.

Tattingstone suitcases murder

In 1967 the remains of murder victim Bernard Oliver, a boy of sixteen or seventeen, were found in two suitcases in a field in Tattingstone on 16 January 1967, 10 days after his family reported him missing. Nobody was ever charged, though two now-deceased doctors were considered prime suspects.

Reservoir

The village was split into two halves in the 1970s when the valley was flooded to make a reservoir. Alton Mill which once stood in the way of the development was dismantled and re-erected at the

Museum of East Anglian Life The Food Museum, formerly the Museum of East Anglian Life, is a museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, which specialises in presenting the agricultural history of East Anglia through a mixture of exhibits and living history demonstrations. His ...

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 road (Great Britain), A14 trunk ...

. However, Tattingstone Alton Hall was not preserved and disappeared into the water. Over twenty houses and two farms were flooded to make way for the reservoir. The pavilion which resides on the playing field in the village was constructed using the doors and some of the structural timbers from the boat house that was situated on the lakes that were in the valley prior to the flooding. The pavilion was built by five local men who used to live in the village. The reservoir is managed by

Anglian Water Anglian Water is a water company that operates in the East of England. It was formed in 1989 under the partial Water privatisation in England and Wales, privatisation of the water industry. It provides water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment ...

and is known as

Alton Water Alton Water (or Alton Reservoir) is a manmade reservoir located on the Shotley peninsula. It is the largest in Suffolk, with a perimeter of over . Construction Due to a shortage of water in the Ipswich area in the 1960s, a list of twenty poten ...

or Alton Reservoir. It is now a haven for wildlife and is used by cyclists, walkers and fishermen and for other watersports.

Notable buildings

There are twenty

listed buildings 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 ...

in the parish, two of which are grade II* listed; the church of

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

and the

. The Tattingstone Wonder is a strange folly built in about 1790 for the local Squire, Edward White, who then lived in the Hall. Originally a pair of cottages, a third was added together with a mock church tower and facade to give his neighbours "something to wonder at". TattingstoneFolly rear

The village has two pubs, the Wheatsheaf and the White Horse but the Orange Box (formally called the Waterloo House, opposite the school) was closed and demolished in 2000 along with village shop and post office which were part of the same building.

Notable residents

Ann Candler Ann Candler (1740–1814) was a poet, known as "The Suffolk Cottager", whose works appeared in the ''Ipswich Journal'' and a volume published toward the end of her life. Life Ann More was born at Yoxford, Suffolk, 18 November 1740, one of the ch ...

(1740–1814), destitute poet known as The Suffolk Cottager. * Edward Pearson (1756–1811), academic and theologian, Master of

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

and Vice chancellor of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. *

John Preston Neale John Preston Neale (1780–1847) was an English architectural and landscape draughtsman. Much of his work was drawn, although he produced the occasional watercolour or oil painting. His drawings were used on a regular basis by engravers. A major w ...

(1780–1847), architectural and landscape draughtsman. *

Charles Boileau Elliott Charles Boileau Elliott (1803–1875) was an English travel writer. He published 3 travel diaries in his lifetime. His best known works are ''Letters from the North of Europe'', ''Travels in the Three Great Empires'', and ''Travels in the Archipe ...

(1803–1875), travel writer,

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, and rector of the parish. *

Basil Snell The Ven. Basil Clark Snell (2 February 1907 – 12 June 1986) was an eminent Anglican priest in the mid twentieth century. Snell was educated at The King's School, Canterbury and Queens' College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1933 and began his ...

(1907-1986),

Archdeacon of Bedford The Archdeacon of Bedford is an ecclesiastical post in the Church of England Diocese of St Albans in the Province of Canterbury. Historically the post was in the Diocese of Lincoln, then from 1837 in the Diocese of Ely, England. On 13 April 1914, ...

Archdeacon of St Albans The Archdeacon of St Albans is an ecclesiastical post in the Church of England Diocese of St Albans in the Province of Canterbury. The post has been held by Jane Mainwaring since March 2020. History Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries and ...

, and rector of the parish. *

John Lyall John Angus Lyall (24 February 1940 – 18 April 2006) was an English footballer and manager primarily known for his 34 years at West Ham United. He played for the club as a youth, then as a first-team player before injury cut short his career. ...

(1940-2006),

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and manager at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and

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

* Rear Admiral Thomas Western (1761-1814) - his monument in the church is by

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...

References

External links

Tattingstone Village
The website and monthly newsletter is run by a sub-committee that is independent from the Parish Council and is funded by selling advertisement space to local businesses. {{authority control Babergh District Civil parishes in Suffolk Villages in Suffolk