Acton, Suffolk

Acton
Village and civil parish
All Saints’ Church, Acton
Acton Location within Suffolk
Population	1,865 (2019) [1]
OS grid reference	TL893449
District	Babergh
Shire county	Suffolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SUDBURY
Postcode district	CO10
Dialling code	01787
Police	Suffolk
Fire	Suffolk
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	South Suffolk
List of places UK England Suffolk 52°04′15″N0°45′40″E / 52.07071°N 0.76102°E / 52.07071; 0.76102

Acton village sign

Acton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. The parish also includes the hamlets of Cuckoo Tye and Newman's Green. It is located three miles North East of Sudbury. ^{[2] : 3}

Etymology

According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the name is "Village by the Oaks".

History

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the population of Acton in 1086 to be 83 households along with 50 acres for farming, wood for 40 pigs, 1 mill, 11 horses at hall, 31 cattle, 160 pigs, 423 sheep, and 7 beehives. The land was held by Ranulf Peverel; before the Norman Conquest, the village was held by Siward Barn. ^[3] It was located in Babergh Hundred.

All Saints is the local church. Five bells are hung in the tower for change ringing with the heaviest weighing 8cwt-1qr-4lb (928 lb), and the oldest dating from 1659 cast by Miles Graye III. The tower is affiliated to the Suffolk Guild of Ringers. ^{[4] [5]}

Historical writings

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the village as:

ACTON, a parish in Sudbury district, Suffolk; near the river Stour, 2½ miles N by E of Sudbury r. station. It has a post office under Sudbury. Acres, 2,811. Real property, £4,159. Pop., 558. Houses, 122. The property belongs chiefly to two. Acton Place contains some old paintings and other interesting objects. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £255.* Patron, Earl Howe. The church contains five brasses, and is good. ^[6]

In 1887, John Bartholomew also wrote an entry on Acton in the Gazetteer of the British Isles with a much shorter description:

Acton, par., W. Suffolk, 2½ miles N. of Sudbury, 2811 ac., pop. 579; P.O. ^[7]

Industry

Between 2001 and 2002 the Reliant Robin was produced in the village's industrial estate. ^[8]

Governance

Acton is part of the Suffolk County Council electoral division of Sudbury East and Waldingfield, and is represented by Philip Faircloth-Mutton (Conservative).

It is also part of the Babergh District Council electoral ward called Long Melford, and is represented by Councillors Elisabeth Malvisi (Independent) and John Nunn (Independent).

Notable former residents

William Jennens was known as "William the Miser" and the "Acton Miser". Jennens made his money through business in London and loaning money to gamblers, and was Britain's richest man at the time of his death in 1798, but aged 97 he had outlived the nominated executors and beneficiaries under his will. According to the BBC QI series, Jennens vs Jennens commenced in 1798 and was abandoned in 1915 (117 years later) when the legal fees had exhausted the Jennens estate of funds (worth c. £2 million). ^{[9] [10]} The case of Jennens v Jennens formed part of the inspiration for the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case at the centre of the plot of Bleak House by Charles Dickens. ^[11]

Another Acton resident, Catherine Foster, was the last woman to be hanged at Bury St Edmunds, in 1847. At the age of 17 she poisoned her husband John Foster by putting arsenic in his dumplings. The propriety of this case was discussed in the House of Lords and reported in Hansard. ^[12]

Ronald Blythe, writer, essayist and editor, best known for his work Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, was born in the village.

Population change

Population growth in Acton from 1801 to 1891
Year	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1881	1891
Population	461	470	555	565	555	539	579	619
Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time [13]

Population growth in Acton from 1901 to 2011
Year	1901	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	2001	2011
Population	593	541	447	496	673	603	1,800	1,811
Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time [13]

See also

• All Saints Church, Acton

References

1. "Acton Population 2019 Estimate" . Retrieved 13 September 2015.
2. Barker, H. R. (1907). West Suffolk Illustrated. Bury: F. G. Pawsey & Co.
3. "Acton Parish History" (PDF).
4. Dove's Guide, Retrieved 2012-03-21.
5. "The Suffolk Guild of Ringers, Acton". www.suffolkbells.org.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
6. "ACTON | As described in John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)". www.visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
7. "Acton | As described in John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)". www.visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
8. What now for Reliant Robin? Archived 2017-02-14 at the Wayback Machine Suffolk Free Press, 23 September 2002
9. BBC QI 8 Dec 2012, Series J, Episode 12 - Justice
10. The Guidott / Guidotti family, Acton Place, Summary of William Jennens Archived 2014-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
11. "All Saints, Acton". www.suffolkchurches.co.uk. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
12. HANSARD 1803–2005, 1840s, 1847, April 1847, 23 April 1847, Lords Sitting. THE EXECUTION OF CATHERINE FOSTER. (HL Deb 23 April 1847 vol 91 cc1240-1)
13. "A Vision of Britain Through Time". University of Portsmouth & others. Retrieved 22 February 2011.

External links

• Media related to Acton, Suffolk at Wikimedia Commons
• Acton in the Domesday Book