Woolverstone is a small village and civil parish 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 located on the

Shotley peninsula The Shotley Peninsula is a rural area east of the A137 Ipswich-Colchester road located between the rivers River Stour, Suffolk, Stour and River Orwell, Orwell in Suffolk, England. The peninsula is named after the settlements of Shotley and Sh ...

. It is situated about south 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, ...

, near the southern shore of the River Orwell. In 2005 it had a population of 240,Estimates of Total Population of Areas in Suffolk
Suffolk County Council increasing to 265 at the 2011 census. It is now home to the Ipswich High School, which moved to the vacated premises of the former Woolverstone Hall School in 1992 after having been well established in

since 1878. The Woolverstone Marina and the Royal Harwich Yacht Club are also located in the vicinity. HMS Woolverstone, a Royal Navy landing craft training and loading base, was housed in the school and used moorings in the River Orwell between 1943 and 1944.

Facilities

The main part of the village is situated either side of the Ipswich to Shotley road (B1456). The village itself has no pubs, shops or Post Office; however, it has a village hall, a church, and a popular marina where there is a chandlery for provisions and a local bar and restaurant named Buttermans. The area is served by primary schools at Chelmondiston, Holbrook, Tattingstone and Shotley and the nearest secondary school, Holbrook High School, which shares a site with the Peninsula Sports Centre. There is a regular bus service (route 97) from Ipswich Old Cattle Market to Shotley Marina which passes through the village. The parish church is dedicated to St Michael, and belongs to the Church of England's Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

History

The name Woolverstone (originally WoluestunThe English Home of Mr. Timothy Dalton, B.A. : Parish of Woolverstone, Section 10
/ref>) is supposedly derived from Wulfhere, whose “tun” or enclosure was at its beginning. There have been numerous archaeological finds in the area, including flint axes and an arrowhead believed to be

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

, beaker shards and flints from the

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 ...

, shards and a brooch from the Romans, and a coin and brooch from the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

. Two separate holdings were recorded in the

Domesday 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 ...

survey of 1086, including woodlands for 15 pigs and 10 acres belonging to the Church. There is a very detailed account of the Parish of Woolverstone and surrounding area between 1639 and 1661 in the book entitled ''The English Home of Mr. Timothy Dalton, B.A.''

Listed buildings

There are a number of notable buildings within Woolverstone, including St Michael's Church (Grade II*), Woolverstone House (Grade II*), Berners Hall (the village hall) (Grade II), The Dairy House (Grade II), The Widows' Homes (Grade II), The Cat House (Grade II) and Woolverstone Hall (Grade I). The Widows' Homes have two stone monkeys set on the roof, said to relate to an incident where a pet monkey saved a child of the Berners family from a fire. The Cat House (a Gothic-style house) is reputed to have belonged to a man who was sympathetic to boats carrying contraband along the river. When his favoured cat died he had it stuffed and when he could see that no customs boats were patrolling the river, he put it in the window to signal that the "coast was clear." Woolverstone House was designed in 1901 by "arts and crafts" architect

Sir Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

and was built for Mrs C. Berners, a lay-sister of the East End Sisters of Mercy. The original

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British Horticulture, horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United Sta ...

gardens have been restored and replanted and the sunken garden has also been given Grade II status.

Other establishments

Woolverstone Marina is set in 22 acres of parkland on the River Orwell, with the Royal Harwich Yacht Club nearby. Woolverstone Marina is one of 21 locations owned and operated by Marina Developments Limited (MDL). The nearby Royal Harwich Yacht Club is a Victorian yacht club formed in 1843 and has had many Royal connections; Before his death

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

was the Patron. The yacht club moved to its present site soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

after its previous premises had been demolished for the expansion of the Navy Yard at Harwich. In 1973, floating pontoons were stationed at the bottom of the club lawn, which then provided the club with its own marina. The Royal Harwich Yacht Club supports The Woolverstone Project, which has Paul Heiney as Patron and provides sailing for people with disabilities at Woolverstone and the nearby

Alton Water Alton Water (or Alton Reservoir) is a manmade reservoir located on the Shotley peninsula. It is the largest in Suffolk, with a perimeter of over . Construction Due to a shortage of water in the Ipswich area in the 1960s, a list of twenty potent ...

reservoir. Spring Lodge Care Home was formerly the parsonage to Woolverstone Hall, which explains the building's grand yet tranquil appearance. This residential and

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

care home is located at the heart of the village and provides a home to some 40 elderly people.Spring Lodge
at carehome.co.uk

Notable people

* John Dwight, settler of

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by E ...

* Nathaniel Colburn, settler of

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Babergh District