Risby 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 West Suffolk district of

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 ...

in eastern England, located around west of Bury St. Edmunds, north of the A14 road. It is believed that the village was founded in about the tenth century, presumably on the strength of its having a Norse name, possibly ''Rȳðs - by'' "farm settlement at a clearing" and identical to Ryssby in Sweden. The traditional division or Hundred in which it stands is Thingoe, also a Norse name. The village now has a population of 840, increasing to 866 at the 2011 Census.

History

Risby was recorded in Domesday as Rasbi and Risbi and Resebi. The Black Ditches are on the western edge of the parish and are believed to be the most easterly of a series of early Anglo-Saxon defensive earthworks built across the

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, withi ...

. Saxham and Risby railway station south of the village, opened in 1854 and closed in 1967, though freight traffic ceased in 1964.

Present day

Risby Church of England Primary School operates in the village which also has a village hall and pub. St Giles Church lies opposite Quay's Farm behind a wall of flints and pink bricks and consists of nave, chancel and porch with traceried windows and one of the East Anglian round towers, in flint, containing three bells. The tower is plain up to above roof level, where a number of lancets appear below a shallow battlemented parapet. This tower has a texture of varicoloured flints, black, white, brown, glassy, dull, orange, not usually chipped or knapped, set in a buff-coloured mortar, and it rises with a slight taper from ground level and without obvious signs of coursing, as if built in one campaign. It is similar to the round tower at neighbouring Little Saxham. Inside the church, the tower arch seems rather tall for its width, and has roll mouldings about the arch and capitals marked with simple lozenge designs, as if Anglo-Saxon, but it may be from the Norman period in a style archaic for its time. The church guide suggests a date about 1000 to 1066. The space inside the round tower is surprisingly small, suggesting very thick walls. The interior of the church contains tablets to the Danby, Wastell, and Spark families; also a carved screen. On the nave floor, partly under a carpet, could be noted some arms of the Godfrey family in exactly the same style and material as those also noted for Godfrey at Lydd, Kent. The arms: ''A chevron between three pelicans' heads erased at the neck vulning themselves. '' The colour of the field is given as ''Sable'', the chevron as ''Or''Corder, Joan, ''A Dictionary of Suffolk Arms'' Suffolk Records Society 1965

Notable people associated with Risby

* Richard Spring, Baron Risby * Thomas Wale

References

A F Webling: 'Risby'

External links

Parish Site
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury Civil parishes in Suffolk