Sapiston | |
---|---|
Location within Suffolk | |
Population | 164 [1] 178 (2011) [2] |
OS grid reference | TL917750 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BURY ST EDMUNDS |
Postcode district | IP31 |
Dialling code | 01284 |
Police | Suffolk |
Fire | Suffolk |
Ambulance | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Sapiston is a small village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England, located near the Suffolk-Norfolk border. It is in northern Suffolk lying on the river Blackbourn. The place-name 'Sapiston' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Sapestuna. The name is thought to mean 'village of soapmakers', but this is not certain. [3]
Sapiston is bordered to the south-west by Honington, to the north-west by Fakenham Magna, to the north by Euston, to the east by Bardwell, and to the south by Ixworth Thorpe. It is 8 miles from Bury St Edmunds and 6 miles from Thetford in Norfolk.
Also nearby are RAF Honington and two Joint RAF/USAF Bases, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall.
Sapiston, a parish in the hundred of Blackbourn, county Suffolk, 3½ miles N.W. of Ixworth, its post town, and 7 from Bury St. Edmund's. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on the River Blackbourn, a tributary of the River Little Ouse. It is wholly agricultural. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Ely, value £100. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is an ancient stone structure, with a thatched roof and a square embattled tower. The interior of the church contains a monument to the farmer William Austin, who resided here with his nephew, the poet Robert Bloomfield. There is a parochial school, erected by the Duke of Grafton, who is lord of the manor.
— From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) (edited version)
Settled in the 1070s, one of the oldest references thus found of Sapiston is in the history of the Drurys, [4] one of the oldest Suffolk families. Matilda, one of that family, married Henry de Sapiston to become Matilda de Sapiston around 1185.
Sapiston church dates back to the 12th century, (a little before the time of Matilda). It has not been in use since 1972 when the parishes of Sapiston and Honington were combined. The church is now maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust and, although Sapiston's church is redundant, occasional services are still held there.
The village was originally right by the ford across the Blackbourn (or Black Bourn). During the 14th century the entire village moved a few hundred yards north, possibly to escape from the Black Death. Now only the Church of St Andrew and The Grange farmhouse remain at the village’s original location.
It was in Sapiston that the Suffolk poet Robert Bloomfield, author of "The Farmer's Boy" [5] (1800), worked from the age of ten to the age of fifteen. He was a farm labourer on the farm of his uncle William Austin (who is buried in Sapiston churchyard). Bloomfield was born in nearby Honington, and the church there contains a memorial to the poet, as well as many notes from admirers.
The local lord of the manor was the Duke of Grafton in neighbouring Euston, Suffolk. The first Duke of Grafton, previously Earl of Euston, was Henry Fitzroy, the son of King Charles II. The third Duke of Grafton was briefly Prime Minister. The current Duke of Grafton is the 12th.
Village Life & Folk Remembered, [6] a book by Syd Thurlow, was written detailing many local stories about Honington & Sapiston. Here's what the Gazetteer of Suffolk had to say about it in 1855. [7] Kelly's Directory of Suffolk [8] described it like this in 1912.
This sleepy part of Suffolk proved to be an ideal filming location for the 1970s British TV show Dad's Army . In common with much of the surrounding area, Sapiston and Honington were used for part of the series, in particular the episode "Dads Army Things that go Bump in the Night". [9]
David Croft, the director/producer of Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo! , Are You Being Served? , Hi-de-Hi! , etc. lived in Honington.
Honington is a village and civil parish located in Bardwell Ward and Pakenham and Troston Wards of West Suffolk District Council, Suffolk in eastern England It is near to the border with Norfolk. It lies on the River Black Bourn, about 8 miles (13 km) from Bury St Edmunds and 6 miles (10 km) from Thetford, Norfolk. Much of the farmland belongs to the estate of the Duke of Grafton. The village is known for its RAF station, RAF Honington. It is also near two joint RAF/USAF airfields: RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall. Honington was the birthplace of the poet Robert Bloomfield. In 2011 the parish had a population of 1472.
Norton is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. The name Norton means northern town or farm. Located close to the A14, its nearest railway station is at Elmswell, just over 3 miles (5 km) away. The closest towns are Stowmarket 8 miles (13 km) away and Bury St Edmunds, around 10 miles (16 km) away.
Robert Bloomfield was an English labouring-class poet, whose work is appreciated in the context of other self-educated writers, such as Stephen Duck, Mary Collier and John Clare.
Duke of Grafton is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1675 by Charles II of England for Henry FitzRoy, his second illegitimate son by the Duchess of Cleveland. The most notable duke of Grafton was Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, who served as Prime Minister from 1768–1770.
St Edmundsbury was a local government district and borough in Suffolk, England. It was named after its main town, Bury St Edmunds. The second town in the district was Haverhill. The population of the district was 111,008 at the 2011 Census.
Thingoe Rural District was a rural district in the county of West Suffolk, England between 1894 and 1974. It was named after the ancient Hundred of Thingoe and administered from Bury St Edmunds, which it surrounded.
Euston Hall is a country house, with park by William Kent and Capability Brown, located in Euston, a small village in Suffolk located just south of Thetford, England. It is the family home of the Dukes of Grafton.
George Henry FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton, KG, styled Earl of Euston until 1811, was a British peer and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1782 to 1811 when he succeeded to the Dukedom.
Bardwell is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.
Barnham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Thetford and 9 miles (14.5 km) north of Bury St Edmunds on the A134. The village of Euston is 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east. According to the Swedish scholar Eilert Ekwall, the name of the village means "Beorn's homestead".
Stanton is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England, about nine miles north-east of Bury St Edmunds, on the A143 road to Diss. Close to the village lies the former WW II airfield RAF Shepherds Grove, where American forces were based. One of the main landmarks in the village is the fine restored windmill at Upthorpe Farm, to the east of the village. The name " Stanton" means 'a homestead on stony ground'.
Coney Weston is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, within the West Suffolk district. It is a primarily rural residential town that has dormitory town status. It is 5 miles (8 km) north of Ixworth and 12 miles (19 km) from Bury St Edmunds
Laxton is a village in North Northamptonshire, seven miles (11 km) east of Corby and approximately one mile (1.6 km) west of the A43. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 160 people, increasing to 234 at the 2011 census.
Ixworth is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 6 miles (9.7 km) north-east of Bury St Edmunds on the A143 road to Diss and 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Thetford. The parish had a population of 2,365 at the 2011 Census.
Ixworth Thorpe is a small village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. The village is located on the A1088 road around 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of the larger village of Ixworth and 7 miles (11.3 km) north-east of Bury St Edmunds. In 2005 its estimated population was 60. The parish council is operated jointly with Ixworth. From the 2011 Census the population of the village was not recorded separately.
Fakenham Magna is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. The meaning of the word 'Fakenham' can be split into two: 'Faken' and 'ham', both of which derive from Old English. The former refers to somebody by the name of 'Facca', with the latter meaning 'a village / a homestead', making the direct translation 'Facca's homestead'. 'Magna' translates from Latin as 'great', hence the alternative name of the village of 'Great Fakenham'. During World War Two, however, the village was referred to as 'Little Fakenham', which was used to avoid confusion with the larger civil parish of Fakenham in Norfolk.
Euston is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the A1088 around two miles south of Thetford, in 2005 its population was 130.
West Suffolk District is a local government district in Suffolk, England. It was established in 2019 as a merger of the previous Forest Heath District with the Borough of St Edmundsbury. The council is based in Bury St Edmunds, the district's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Brandon, Clare, Haverhill, Mildenhall and Newmarket, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. In 2021 it had a population of 180,820.
Bardwell Ward is one of a number of West Suffolk District wards created to come into force following the 2019 local elections held on 2 May 2019. This was part of the 2019–2023 structural changes to local government in England.
Media related to Sapiston at Wikimedia Commons