Wissett 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

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

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 ...

. It is north-west of the market town of

Halesworth Halesworth is a market town, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in north-eastern Suffolk, England. The population stood at 4,726 in the 2011 Census. It lies south-west of Lowestoft, on a tribut ...

in the East Suffolk district. Historically, it was in the

Blything Hundred Blything was a hundred of eastern Suffolk, and with an area of was the largest of Suffolk's 21 hundreds. The origins of the hundred centre on the ancient royal estate of Blythburgh, whose hall housed the hundred's central meeting place. List ...

.Wissett
Suffolk Heritage Explorer,

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Governme ...

. Retrieved 2021-03-04. At the

2011 United Kingdom census A Census in the United Kingdom, census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Inter ...

the parish had a population of 268. The village is spread along the Halesworth road with the Lowestoft to Ipswich railway cutting through the extreme eastern edge of the parish. The nearest railway station is Halesworth railway station.Wissett
Healthy Suffolk, 2016. Retrieved 2021-03-04.Wissett Conservation Area Appraisal

East Suffolk District Council East Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England. The largest town is Lowestoft, which contains Ness Point, the easternmost point of the United Kingdom. The second largest town is Felixstowe, which has the country's largest con ...

, 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-04. The parish borders the parishes of

Rumburgh Rumburgh is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is north-west of the market town of Halesworth in the East Suffolk District. The population of the parish at the 2011 United Kingdom census was 327. The village is ce ...

, St James South Elmham,

Spexhall Spexhall is a village and civil parish in the north-east of the English county of Suffolk. The village, which is dispersed in nature, is around north of the market town of Halesworth Halesworth is a market town, civil parish and Wards and ...

, Halesworth and

Chediston Chediston is a village and a civil parish on the B1123 road, in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk. It is located 2 miles west of Halesworth, its post town. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was ...

History

Wissett manor was held by

Ralph the Staller Ralph the Staller or Ralf the Englishman (died 1069/70) was a noble and landowner in both Anglo-Saxon and post-Conquest England. He first appears in charters from Brittany, where he was described as Ralph / Ralf the Englishman, and it was in Br ...

, Baron of Gael in Brittany before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. Ralph was created

Earl of East Anglia The Earls of East Anglia were governors of East Anglia during the 11th century. The post was established by Cnut in 1017 and disappeared following Ralph Guader's participation in the failed Revolt of the Earls in 1075. Ealdormen of East Anglia U ...

in 1067, but his son lost the title and the manor passed to

Count Alan of Brittany Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz (Breton language, Breton), Alain le Roux (French Language, French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond, was a Bretons, Breton nobleman, ...

and Richmond in 1075. 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 records that Wissett was then combined with

; the site of

Rumburgh Priory Rumburgh Priory was a Benedictine priory located in the village of Rumburgh in the English county of Suffolk. The priory was founded in about 1065 as a cell of St Benet's Abbey at Hulme in Norfolk.Page W (1975) 'Houses of Benedictine monks: Prio ...

which had 12

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monks. It had four

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment. ...

s of land and a population of 97 families. The village chapel was a cell of the priory.Page W (1975) 'Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Rumburgh' in ''A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2'', pp. 77–79.
Available online
at British History Online. Retrieved 2011-05-02.)Wissett
Open Domesday. Retrieved 2021-03-04. The artists

Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...

and

Duncan Grant Duncan James Corrowr Grant (21 January 1885 – 8 May 1978) was a Scottish painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets, and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group. His father was Bartle Grant, a "poverty-stricken" major ...

, and Grant's lover the writer

David Garnett David Garnett (9 March 1892 – 17 February 1981) was an English writer and publisher. As a child, he had a cloak made of rabbit skin and thus received the nickname "Bunny", by which he was known to friends and intimates all his life. Early ...

, lived in Wissett for the summer of 1916. Bell's sister,

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

, wrote after visiting them that: "Wissett seems to lull asleep all ambition. Don't you think they have discovered the secret of life? I thought it wonderfully harmonious."

Culture and community

The parish church is dedicated to

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

. It is one of around 40

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berks ...

es in Suffolk and dates from the 11th century. The tower has a floor partly dated to the 12th century, one of the oldest recorded church tower floors in the United Kingdom. The church was built as a chapel to

. Two doors and the tower arch are the remaining elements of

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used f ...

. The church is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

.Knott S (2019
St Andrew, Wissett
Suffolk Churches. Retrieved 2021-03-04.Church of St Andrew
List entry,

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

. Retrieved 2021-03-04.Kiddy M (1997) ''St Andrew's, Wissett: A Guide''. Wissett: St Andrew's church. The carved wooden statue of St Andrew was crafted from driftwood in 2006 by

Peter Eugene Ball Peter Eugene Ball (19 March 1943) is an English sculptor. He is best known for his religious work which can be seen in churches and cathedrals throughout Britain. He also produces secular sculpture using predominantly driftwood and found obje ...

. The parish is now one of fourteen which together form the Blyth Valley Team Ministry in the Diocese of Saint Edmundsbury and Ipswich.Churches in the Blyth Valley Team Ministry
Blyth Valley Team Ministry. Retrieved 2021-03-04. The village has a village hall and a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, ''The Plough Inn'', which also operates as a village shop. Wissett Hall is a red-brick manor house dating from the 17th century, whilst Manor Farmhouse dates from the 16th century and The Grange from the 14th; both are Grade II* listed buildings. The Old Chapel, a former dissenters' chapel, is now a private dwelling. The parish council operates a regular newsletter, ''The Wissett Web''. Valley Farm Vineyard was established in the parish in 1987 and has produced United Kingdom Vineyard Association Gold Medal winning wine.

Education

The Wissett School Board was formed in 1878, and the village school opened the following year, 1879. It operated as a

board school School boards were ''ad hoc'' public bodies in England and Wales that existed between 1870 and 1902, and established and administered Elementary school (England and Wales), elementary schools. Creation The Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & ...

until 1902, when it became a local authority primary school under the provisions of the

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7. c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conserva ...

. The school continued to operate until 1961, when it closed due to the small size of its roll. Children now attend primary school in Halesworth and secondary school at Bungay High School.

The Wissett Hoards

Early in 2011 two

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

s of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

axe heads and spears, together with a single rapier blade, were discovered in Wissett by two metal detectorists. The hoards were found about nine metres apart. The second hoard was excavated fully by the County Archaeological Team, and expert examination of the objects has shown them to be over 3,000 years old, dating to the Middle Bronze Age. It is considered unusual to find two hoards so close together. From the identical alloy used in both hoards, it has been suggested that they are contemporary with each other. Several of the items are of a type that have never previously been found together. In all, fifteen objects were authenticated by the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, and were valued at £4,300. They were purchased by the Halesworth and District Museum.The Wissett Hoards
Halesworth Museum. Retrieved 2021-03-04.

Notes

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Waveney District Year of establishment missing