Wattisham 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 ...

near to the town of Stowmarket 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. From the 2011 Census the population of the parish was 110, according to the ONS, included in the civil parish of Hitcham.

Wattisham Airfield

The village houses an airfield. Formerly known as

RAF Wattisham Royal Air Force Station Wattisham or more simply RAF Wattisham is a former Royal Air Force station located in East Anglia just outside the village of Wattisham, south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. During the Cold War it was a major front- ...

, it was one of the front-line airfields in the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. The

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

moved out in March 1993 and it is now the largest

Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps: * Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army * Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941) * United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...

airfield in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The airbase is now named

Wattisham Airfield Wattisham Airfield is an operational Army Airfield located next to the village of Wattisham in Suffolk, England. It is home to 3 Regiment Army Air Corps and 4 Regiment Army Air Corps. They are part of the Attack Helicopter Force (AHF) within ...

Landmarks

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of St Nicholas, was declared redundant by

Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part ...

in the 1970s but was taken over by a charitable trust, who use it for concerts and exhibitions, with profits reinvested into caring for the building. Diocesan architect

Henry Munro Cautley Henry Munro Cautley (1876–1959) was an architect based in Ipswich. Cautley, was born at Bridge, Kent in 1876, the son of Richard Hutton Cautley and Annie Munro Inchbald. When Henry was very young the family moved to Ipswich where Richard was a ...

(1875-1959), in his 1937 ''Suffolk Churches and their Treasures'', found little to interest him except an armorial shield. North of the village is Wattisham Castle, dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Wattisham Strict Baptist Chapel is located in the village.

References

External links

Villages in Suffolk Babergh District Civil parishes in Suffolk {{Suffolk-geo-stub