Rattlesden is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of

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 ...

in eastern England. It is approximately north-west from the

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

of Ipswich, with the nearest town Stowmarket to the east. The parish includes the hamlets of

Hightown Green Rattlesden is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is approximately north-west from the county town of Ipswich, with the nearest town Stowmarket to the east. The parish includes the hamlets o ...

and

Poystreet Green Rattlesden is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is approximately north-west from the county town of Ipswich, with the nearest town Stowmarket to the east. The parish includes the hamlets o ...

. In 2005 the population of Rattlesden was 900, and for the 2011 Census the returns included the neighbouring parish of

Shelland Shelland is a small village and civil parish located just off the A14, 4 miles west of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. Shelland consists of roughly 10 houses, a church and Shelland Green. At the 2001 census, the village had a population of 39. ...

. The

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 ...

parish church of St Nicholas dates to the 13th century, with later additions and alterations.

History

The village and surrounding area, like much of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, was a hotbed of Puritan sentiment during much of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1634, a local wheelwright, Richard Kimball led a relatively large company from Rattlesden to the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

as part of the wave of emigration that occurred during the Great Migration.Thompson, Roger, ''Mobility & Migration, East Anglian Founders of New England, 1629-1640'', Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994, 212-213.

Thomas Cobbold (1680–1752) Thomas Cobbold (April, 1680, Rattlesden – 1752) was an English brewer who established a family brewery in Ipswich. The Cobbold family went on to become one of the most influential families in Ipswich. He was the son of John Cobbold (1654 – 17 ...

, the brewer who established the Cliff Brewery and first member of the Cobbold family brewing dynasty, was born at Rattlesden.

John Pretyman John Pretyman (1753/1754 – 5 June 1817) was an Anglican priest, who served as Archdeacon of Lincoln from 1793 to 1817. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he started in 1774 age 20; and ordained deacon on 15 March 1778 and ...

(1753/1754–1817), the

priest who served as

Archdeacon of Lincoln The Archdeacon of Lincoln is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Lincoln – he or she has responsibilities within his archdeaconry (the ancient Archdeaconry of Lincoln) including oversight of church buildings and some supervision, d ...

from 1793 to 1817, was a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of the parish. During the Second World War, Rattlesden was the site of the U.S. Army Air Force heavy bomber base,

RAF Rattlesden Royal Air Force Station Rattlesden or more simply RAF Rattlesden is a former Royal Air Force station located south east of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. History USAAF use Rattlesden airfield was built in 1942 as a Class A bomber air ...

. The site is now used by the Rattlesden Gliding Club. In 1975 the historic core of the village became a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

under the auspices of the district council and the guidelines of English Heritage.

References

* Roberts, Gary Boyd, Ed., ''English Origins of New England Families'', Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984, 691–92.

External links

Parish Council website
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District Thedwastre Hundred