Great Waldingfield 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 authorit ...

in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England about two miles (3 km) north-east of Sudbury and two miles (3 km) south-west of its sister village, Little Waldingfield. The village is split into two separate parts; the older and smaller part around the St. Lawrence Church, and the newer and larger section along the B1115 road between Sudbury and

Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Guildhall, Little Hall, 15th-century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walks. In the mediev ...

. Most of the houses in the newer section were built after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, including much council housing. The parish also includes the hamlets of Upsher Green and part of Washmere Green. The population is estimated to be 1,460, reducing to 1,431 at the 2011 Census. The village hall was the normal location of the halfway feeding station on the

Dunwich Dynamo The Dunwich Dynamo (sometimes abbreviated to "Dun Run" or "DD") is an annual semi-organised, through-the-night bicycle ride from London Fields park in Hackney, London, England to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. The distance is approximately . ...

overnight bicycle ride until 2010, whilst an episode of '' Lovejoy'' ("Fruit of the Dessert") was filmed in the village.

History

The discovery of a number of artefacts suggests that the village existed during the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

and the Roman occupation of Britain, but the first record of the village's existence is from 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 ...

of 1086, in which the village was listed as ''Walingafella Magna'' with three Saxon manors and an area of around 3,000 acres (12 km²). Located on the major thoroughfare between the wool town of

and Sudbury, the village was well placed to benefit from the trade boom in the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. An outbreak of Bubonic plague in 1626 reduced the population by at least 10%, going from 513 in 1611 to 459 in 1631. In 1648, during the siege of Colchester (part of the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

) Cromwell's Ironsides were billeted in the village, an area which became Garrison Lane. Soldiers were stationed in the village after the war before being demobilised. The late 19th and early 20th Centuries saw a steady decline in population, caused by out-migration and a flu epidemic, from 659 in 1851 to 348 in 1931. During

an airfield was built adjacent to the village. The airfield was completed in 1943 and handed over to the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

on 23 March 1944. For security reasons named Station 174 by the United States Army Air Force, the airfield was later more commonly known as

RAF Sudbury Royal Air Force station Sudbury or more simply RAF Sudbury is a former Royal Air Force station located north-east of Sudbury, Suffolk, England. History USAAF use RAF Sudbury was opened in 1944 and was built to the standard Class A heavy bom ...

. With three runways, the airfield was home to the

486th Bombardment Group 486th may refer to: *486th Air Expeditionary Wing, provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command * 486th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit *486th Fighter Squadron, inactive United States Air F ...

Governance

Great Waldingfield is part of the Suffolk County Council electoral division of Sudbury East and Waldingfield, and is represented by Philip Faircloth-Mutton (Conservative). It is also part of the Babergh District Council electoral ward called Lavenham, and is represented by Councillors Margaret Maybury (Conservative) and Clive Arthey (Independent).

Notable residents

* John Hopkins: Village rector who, together with

Thomas Sternhold Thomas Sternhold (1500–1549) was an English courtier and the principal author of the first English metrical version of the Psalms, originally attached to the Prayer-Book as augmented by John Hopkins. Life Anthony Wood says that Sternhold ...

, produced the first national English hymn book in 1562. The book has gone through over 600 editions, and has been outsold only by the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

and the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

. * Thomas Crooke, a leading

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

cleric. He also served as village rector from 1571 to 1598, and his sons, of whom three became famous, grew up in the village: ** Sir Thomas Crooke, 1st Baronet **

Helkiah Crooke Helkiah Crooke (1576 – 1648) was Court physician to King James I of England. He is best remembered for his textbook on anatomy, ''Mikrokosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man''. He was the first qualified doctor to be appointed Keeper ...

** Samuel Crooke * Neville Armstrong (1914–2008), literary agent and publisherIan Miller
Other lives: Neville Armstrong
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 26 September 2008, accessed 27 July 2021

Location grid

References

External links

Village websiteSchool website
Suffolk Churches {{authority control Villages in Suffolk Babergh District Civil parishes in Suffolk