Playford 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the East Suffolk district, in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England, on the outskirts of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

. 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 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 ...

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

Notable residents

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

(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 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

fought for the cause in Parliament. * Lia Ditton (born 1980), sailor and rower * Sir George Biddell Airy (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 Astro ...

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 Greenwich meridian is a prime meridian, a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. From 1884 to 1974, the Greenwich meridian was the international standard prime meridian, ...

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 The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) was a standard gauge railway intended to open up an agricultural area of central Suffolk; it took advantage of the reduced construction cost enabled by the Light Railways Act 1896. It was launched with consi ...

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, 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 and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving until 1997), and wa ...

. They are both buried in the churchyard of St Mary. * Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet, 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