Iken | |
---|---|
St Botolph's Church, Iken | |
Location within Suffolk | |
Population | 101 (2011) [1] |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Woodbridge |
Postcode district | IP12 |
UK Parliament | |
Iken is a small village and civil parish in the sandlands of the English county of Suffolk, an area formerly of heathland and sheep pasture. It is near the estuary of the River Alde on the North Sea coast and is located south east of Snape and due north of Orford. To its west is Tunstall Forest, created since the 1920s by the Forestry Commission and now part of the Sandlings Forest.
Iken was part of Sudbourne Hall Estate. It was composed largely of tenant farms and cottages for farm workers. The owners of the estate valued the area more for shooting than farming, and a decoy pond was built at Iken in the eighteenth century. [2] Since the break up of the Estate Iken has remained a "close" village: only a handful of new houses have been built and no council houses have ever been built.
In the pre-railway era Iken Cliff was a commercial area used for transporting coal and wheat, and there was a public house near the shore. Flat barges used to sit on the mud at low tide and goods were moved in wheelbarrows. The last heathland around Iken Cliff was ploughed up after the second world war.
The population reached a peak of 380 in 1840, steadily declining to around 100.
During World War II most of Iken and the neighbouring village of Sudbourne were used as a battle training area in advance of the D-Day landings in June 1944. The inhabitants were relocated returning sometime after the war finished. [3]
Benjamin Britten set his opera The Little Sweep in Iken Hall, then the home of Margery Spring Rice, who was one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Festival. Britten, who then lived at Snape, was involved in an unsuccessful campaign to keep open a footpath along the Alde to Iken Church. [4]
The Anchorage , formerly an island in what was a marsh at the edge of the estuary, is the most likely site of Saint Botolph's Abbey, Ikenhoe, although this is disputed with other possible locations, including Boston in Lincolnshire, and Hadstock on the Cambridgeshire/Essex border. During excavations in 1977 Dr Stanley West discovered part of a large stone Saxon cross incorporated into the wall of St Botolph's Church tower. The Cross was carved with the heads of dogs and wolves, symbols which were traditionally recognised as St Botolph's emblems during the Middle Ages and therefore it is thought that the cross may originally have been a memorial to him.
The Church is Grade II listed; it is the only listed building in the village. [5] At the time of the most recent amendment to the listing (1984), the church was still burnt out. The nave is the oldest part, dating from before 1200. The chancel fell into disuse after the Reformation, and was in ruins by the 18th century. It was rebuilt in 1853. The tower is 15th century. The church suffered a devastating fire in 1968, caused by sparks from a bonfire. [6] It is one of 18 churches in the Wilford Benefice Group of Churches. [7]
Features inside the church include a war memorial in the Church to the ten men of the village who died in WWI, an Orthodox icon to St Botolph, and a 15th-century octagonal font.
Julian Tennyson, (1915-1945), writer and historian, most famous for his writings on his home county of Suffolk, is commemorated by a headstone in the churchyard of St Botolph's. He was killed in action in Burma.
The former rectory next door, now the Anchorage, was sold to a private individual after the Second World War, and as a result of a conveyancing mistake, access to the church was greatly restricted by the new owner.
There is a parish council. [8]
Iken was brought to national attention, in the aftermath of the fire, by the decision of the renowned judge, Sir Robert Megarry, to conduct a hearing in person at Iken, partly to take evidence from a witness who was unable to travel to London and partly to conduct a mock funeral in order to test a disputed right of way. [9] The result of that litigation had the effect of requiring the materials for the rebuilding of the church to be brought in on foot.
There are two former pubs in the village: the Anchor [10] and the Boot [11] both of which closed in the 19th century.
There was also a poorhouse established by the early nineteenth century. George Crabbe the poet used to attend poorer patients in Iken in his days as a surgeon, and his poem "The Workhouse" may have been based on his experience at Iken as well as at Aldeburgh. [12] The former workhouse building was purchased by the Sudbourne Hall Estate in 1896. [13]
Aldeburgh is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Aldeburgh Festival of arts at nearby Snape Maltings, which was founded by Britten in 1948. It also hosts an annual poetry festival and several food festivals and other events.
The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall.
Botolph of Thorney was an English abbot and saint. He is regarded as the patron saint of boundaries, and by extension, of trade and travel, as well as various aspects of farming. His feast day is celebrated either on 17 June (England) or 25 June (Scotland).
Yoxford is a village in East Suffolk, England, close to the Heritage Coast, Minsmere Reserve (RSPB), Aldeburgh and Southwold. It is known for its antique shops and for providing the setting for a Britten opera.
Snape Maltings Concert Hall is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, England. It is best known as one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. It is now one of two headquarters for Britten Pears Arts, with the other being The Red House.
Snape is a small village in the English county of Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh. At the 2011 census the population was 611. In Anglo-Saxon England, Snape was the site of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial. Snape is now best known for Snape Maltings, no longer in commercial use, but converted into a tourist centre together with a concert hall that hosts the major part of the annual Aldeburgh Festival.
Aldringham cum Thorpe is a civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located south of the town of Leiston, the parish includes the villages of Aldringham and Thorpeness, which is on the coast, between Sizewell (north) and Aldeburgh (south). In 2007 it had an estimated population of 700, rising to 759 at the 2011 Census.
Burgh is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about 3.5 miles (6 km) north-west of Woodbridge.
The Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery is a place of burial dated to the 6th century AD located on Snape Common, near to the town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk, Eastern England. Dating to the early part of the Anglo-Saxon Era of English history, it contains a variety of different forms of burial, with inhumation and cremation burials being found in roughly equal proportions. The site is also known for the inclusion of a high status ship burial. A number of these burials were included within burial mounds.
Sudbourne is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, located approximately 2 miles (3 km) north of Orford.
Newson Garrett was a maltster, instrumental in the revival of the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, of which he became mayor at the end of his life. Two of his daughters, Millicent and Elizabeth, became famous as women's rights activists, and his granddaughter Philippa was the first woman to rank highest in the Mathematical Tripos examinations.
The Little Sweep, Op. 45, is an opera for children in three scenes by the English composer Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Eric Crozier.
Hawkedon is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located around 7 miles (11 km) south-south-west of Bury St Edmunds, the parish also contains the hamlet of Thurston End, and in 2005 had a population of 120. The majority of the village is classed as a conservation area.
Great Glemham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, England, a mile and a half to the west of the A12 and roughly equidistant between Framlingham and Saxmundham.
Chillesford is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the B1084 road which runs east to west. Chillesford is 3 miles northwest of the small town of Orford. It is 5 miles southwest of Aldeburgh and 6 miles south of Saxmundham. Population of around 120 and 60 houses. At the 2011 Census the population is included in the civil parish of Butley
Britten Pears Arts is a large music education organisation based in Suffolk, England. It aims to continue the legacy of composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, singer Peter Pears, and to promote the enjoyment and experience of music for all. It is a registered charity.
The A1094 is an A road in the English county of Suffolk. It is around 7 miles (11 km) in length. The road runs from a junction off the A12 trunk road at Friday Street in Benhall to Aldeburgh on the North Sea coast. The road is single carriageway throughout.
St Peter and St Paul's Church, Aldeburgh is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Margery Spring Rice was a British social reformer. She was Secretary of the League of Nations Society and a founding member of the National Birth Control Association. She authored the book Working-Class Wives: Their Health and Conditions in 1939.