Playford is a small village 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 ...

, England, on the outskirts 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 ...

. It has about 215 residents in 90 households. The name comes from the Old English '' plega'' meaning play, sport; used of a place for games, or a courtship or mating-place for animals, and the Old English '' ford'' meaning a place where a stream or river can be crossed. Villages nearby include Rushmere, Little Bealings,

Great Bealings Great Bealings is a small village in Suffolk, England. It has about 302 people living in it in around 113 households. Its nearest towns are Ipswich ( away) and Woodbridge (). Nearby villages include Little Bealings, Playford, Culpho, Has ...

Culpho Culpho (pronounced Cul-fo) is a hamlet and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, about northeast of the centre of Ipswich and west of Woodbridge. Culpho's population is less than 100, so the Office for National Statistic ...

and

Grundisburgh Grundisburgh is a village of 1,584 residents situated in the English county of Suffolk. It is in the East Suffolk district, six north-east from Ipswich and north-west of Woodbridge located on the B1079. Flowing through the village are the ri ...

. There are no pubs or shops in Playford, although it has a church (St Mary's) and a village hall.

Notable residents

* Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846), the slave trade abolitionist, lived at Playford Hall from 1816 until his death and is buried in the churchyard. Insufficient credit has been given to Clarkson for his life's work: it was he who initiated the task, produced the necessary evidence and provided the momentum while

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

fought for the cause in Parliament. *

Sir George Biddell Airy Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of th ...

(1801–92) was the seventh

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

from 1835 to 1881. Today he might also have been called Government Chief Scientist, for among his many accomplishments was the establishment of the

Greenwich Meridian The historic prime meridian or Greenwich meridian is a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. The modern IERS Reference Meridian widely used today is based on the Greenwich m ...

in 1884. There are craters on Mars and the moon named after him. * Arthur Biddell (1783-1860) of Hill House, was a pre-eminent Suffolk farmer, an industrious land surveyor at the time of the tithe commutations and an inventor of agricultural machinery which was manufactured by his in-laws Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies of Ipswich. * Francis Seymour Stevenson (1862-1938) of Playford Mount was Liberal MP for the Eye Division 1885–1906. His over-enthusiasm for the construction of the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway to help his rural constituents during the agricultural depression caused both his own bankruptcy and that of the railway for which he had to resign his seat. In 1895 he became the first chairman of Playford Parish Council. * Sir William Aitken, a journalist and politician who was an MP for 14 years, and his wife,

Penelope, Lady Aitken Penelope Loader, Lady Aitken, MBE (2 December 1910 – 7 February 2005), styled The Honourable Lady Aitken and nicknamed 'Pempe', was an English socialite. Biography Born Penelope Loader Maffey, she was the daughter of Sir John Maffey, later ...

, a socialite nicknamed 'Pempe', also lived at Playford Hall. Their son is the disgraced former Conservative MP and Cabinet minister

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving u ...

. They are both buried in the churchyard of St Mary. *

Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet (12 October 1649 – 3 March 1709), of Whitehall, Westminster and Playford, Suffolk, was an English courtier and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1690 and 1709 . Felton was the son of Si ...

, a politician of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, is buried in the chancel of the church. * Anna Airy, artist.

Gallery

Image:PlayfordChurch.JPG, St Mary's church Image:FynnValleyPlayford.JPG, The Fynn Valley, from Playford bridge Image:PlayfordHall.jpg, Playford Hall

External links

The Playford Village web site

References

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk