Grundisburgh is a village of 1,584 residents situated in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 ...

. It is in the East Suffolk district, six north-east from

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 r ...

and north-west of Woodbridge located on the B1079. Flowing through the village are the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s Lark and Gull. The finding of Ipswich and Thetford-type pottery suggests that there was settlement in the Middle Saxon era. The village is recorded 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 manusc ...

of 1086 as "Grundesbur", "Grundesburg", "Grundesburh" or "Grundesburc". Grundisburgh is pronounced "Gruns-bruh". The village has a primary

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

, a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

church and a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

as well as one pub, The Dog. The Grundisburgh and District News is a

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

which is

published Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

by volunteers every three months and provides news for Grundisburgh and the surrounding villages and hamlets. There are two fords in the village. The village is the setting for the novel ''A Wicked Deed'' by Susanna Gregory. Grundisburgh Primary School is a medium-sized school with 131 pupils at the time of the last

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

inspection. It is located in a modern building in Alice Driver Road which was built in 1989 after spending 115 years at the Old School next to St Mary's Church. The Old School building has now been converted into affordable housing, which was opened by

John Gummer John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and now a member of the House of Lords. He was Conservative Party Chairman from 1983 ...

MP in July 1994.

Meaning

The name "Grundisburgh" is an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

formation, referring to a ''burh'' or fortified place. The ''Burh'' in this case is an

Iron Age fort A hillfort is a type of earthworks (engineering), earthwork used as a fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or I ...

with the remains of a rectangular Roman fort enclosure surrounding the church of St Botolph at the adjacent village of

Burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...

, which stands on an acclivity overlooking the valley in which Grundisburgh lies. Ekwall considered that "Grund" was probably the former name of the place, derived from the Old English word ''grund'' meaning foundation, referring to the footings of the Roman walls. Grundisburgh would then mean "the Burgh at Grund". Alternatively ''grund'' might simply mean ''land'', or the lower-lying ground, giving the sense of "Burgh-in-the-valley", i.e. "that part of (the settlement of) Burgh which is in the valley bottom". One further possibility, considered less likely, is that ''Grund'' was a personal name and appears in the possessive form, signifying ''Grund's Burgh''. A further useful description of the history of the area is recounted by Norman Scarfe.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

of the same name stretches south to

Kesgrave Kesgrave is a town in the English county of Suffolk on the eastern edge of Ipswich. Kesgrave forms part of the wider Ipswich Built-up area. History The area was recorded as ''Gressgrava'' in the Domesday Book, by the late 15th century its nam ...

with a total population of 2,306.

Notable natives and residents

Bartholomew Gosnold Bartholomew Gosnold (1571 – 22 August 1607) was an English barrister, explorer and privateer who was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company in London and Jamestown in colonial America. He led the first recorded European expeditio ...

(1571–1607),

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and

colonist A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

instrumental in the settlement of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and namer of

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

and

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

, was born in Grundisburgh. *

George William Lyttelton The Honourable, The Hon George William Lyttelton (6 January 1883 – 1 May 1962) was a British teacher and ''littérateur'' from the Lyttelton family. Known in his lifetime as an inspiring teacher of classics and English literature at Eton C ...

, teacher of classics and English literature at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

Alice Driver Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

, one of the 16th C.

Ipswich Martyrs The Ipswich Martyrs were nine people burnt at the stake for their Lollard or Protestant beliefs around 1515-1558. The executions were mainly carried out in the centre of Ipswich, Suffolk on The Cornhill, the square in front of Ipswich Town Hall. ...

who was

burnt at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment ...

for her

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

beliefs in 1558. *

Sir Charles Blois, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Blois, 1st Baronet (14 September 1657 – 9 April 1738), of Grundisburgh, Grundisburgh Hall and Cockfield Hall, Yoxford, Suffolk, was a British Tory politician who sat in the English House of Commons and the House of Commons of Great ...

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Dunwich Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was t ...

Notable buildings

There are 27

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s in Grundisburgh, including one Grade I and one Grade II* building. Basts, just to the east of the church, is a Tudor building, built around 1520 by salter Thomas Awall.Bast's, Grundisburgh
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2011-04-20. The father of his wife, Alice, was the master cook to Edward IV and Henry VII. St Mary's Church is the largest place of worship in the village and is of the

denomination. The existence of the church is recorded in 1254. The earliest parts of St Mary's Church, which is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, date from approximately 1300 but it was enlarged in the 15th century with the addition of a

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

.Church of St Mary, Grundisburgh
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2011-04-20. Within the church itself is a fine Suffolk

hammerbeam A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams ...

roof and a mural of St Christopher dating from the 14th century, which is the largest of its type in the county. The second expansion of the church came in 1527 when Thomas Awall built - or renovated - the

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...

. A distinctive feature of the church is the 18th-century brick

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

built between 1731 and 1732 at the bequest of Robert Thinge, who has a commemorative plaque within the tower. The Tower also is the home of the Millennium Time Capsule that was sealed into the wall in 2000. Three towers have been planned for Grundisburgh church: the original 14th-century flint tower, the current 18th-century tower, and a 19th-century plan to clad the brickwork in flint and raise a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

on top of it. Grundisburgh

Chapel was built in 1798 and is one of the earliest dissenting religious buildings in the area. It is situated on the edge of the village and has been widely refurbished over the last few years. This included replacing the

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

wooden

pew A pew () is a long bench (furniture), bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating Member (local church), members of a Church (congregation), congregation or choir in a Church (building), church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview ...

s with seats. Post Mill Gardens marks the location of a

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. All p ...

built in 1807 which worked until 1930 when the remains were made part of a house. Another mill, a miniature

smock mill The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This type ...

, stood a short distance north-west of the post mill from c.1885 until its demolition in about 1957.

References

External links

Grundisburgh Parish CouncilGrundisburgh News - local volunteer newspaperSuffolk Churches
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk