Witnesham is a village situated roughly to the north 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 ...

, Suffolk. The main road from Ipswich that links the village to the town is the B1077, Westerfield Road.

History

It is in 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 ...

as 'Wytenesham’ (Witta's/Witten's meadow or enclosure) and had 10 villagers. It was a part of Carlford, one of the old

Hundreds of Suffolk The county of Suffolk was divided into hundreds between Saxon times and the 19th century, when they were replaced for administrative purposes by districts. In 1831 the county was subdivided into twenty-one hundreds and three municipal borough ...

. Witnesham Hall (OS grid TM1750) was built in the 16th century, and is further west past St Mary's church on Church Lane. A murder was committed in 1896 in Rose Cottage pecific location unknownwhere mentally unwell man George Smith murdered his elderly mother.

Present day

In 2009 the estimated population of Witnesham was 810, decreasing to 792 at the 2011 census. The village amenities include a 1766 inn, The Barley Mow, on Mow Hill (OS grid TM 185 503) south of Witnesham and a small primary school. The village Post Office was at the bottom of the village, nearest to Ipswich, but it has closed. Postal services are continued at the Baptist Church on a two-day basis. The village has two churches, the Baptist at the top of the village, north on Upper Road. The larger church, St Mary's OS grid TM1850, located west out of Witnesham along the Church Lane (no through lane), near the source of the River Fynn. There are several farms in the area, such as White House Farm along Wash Lane to the east and Redhouse Farm to the South-east.

Westerfield railway station Westerfield railway station is on a branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line, in the East of England, serving the village of Westerfield, Suffolk. It is down the line from and measured from London Liverpool Street. It is situated at a jun ...

, situated around is served by

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...

rail services to

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

, Lowestoft,

and

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northea ...

. Local businesses include Fynn Valley Golf Club, a mile south, which has both 9 and 18 hole parkland golf courses, golf driving range, golf shops and restaurant, bar and conference/function rooms.

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name exists. This stretches to Playford with a total population of 1,965 as taken at the 2011 Census.

Notable residents

* William King, pioneer of the co-operative movement * Samuel Turner, recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

* Spencer John Bent, recipient of the

, lived with his mother's brother and wife at Verandah Cottage between the ages of 7 and 14 following the death of his father who was killed during the Boer War *

Carl Giles Ronald "Carl" Giles OBE (29 September 1916 – 27 August 1995), often referred to simply as Giles, was a cartoonist who worked for the British newspaper the '' Daily Express''. His cartoon style was a single topical highly detailed panel, usu ...

, who created the well-known "Giles" cartoons for the ''Daily Express''.

References

External links

witnesham.org
Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk {{Suffolk-geo-stub