Wixoe | |
---|---|
St Leonard's Church, Wixoe | |
Location within Suffolk | |
Population | 140 (2005) [1] 145 (2011) [2] |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Sudbury |
Postcode district | CO10 |
Police | Suffolk |
Fire | Suffolk |
Ambulance | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Wixoe is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the northern bank of the River Stour, two miles south-east of Haverhill, in 2005 its population was 140. [1] It consists largely of Victorian cottages along a narrow lane. There is a church of 12th-century origin, St Leonard's, much restored in the 1880s. [3] It was recorded in the Domesday Book, [4] at 600 acres one of the smallest parishes in the hundred of Risbridge. There are some 13 listed buildings, including a 19th-century bridge and a water mill. [5]
The Great Eastern Railway ran through the village, part of the Stour Valley line from 1865 until its closure in March 1967 under the Beeching 'axe'. The nearest stations were Sturmer to the west and Stoke-by-Clare to the east. [6] The track bed and embankments remain clearly visible.
Roman remains have been frequently located in the vicinity, mostly on the Essex side of the Stour and a settlement has long been proposed. [7] In 1803 close to Watsoe Bridge TL 706 430, an earthwork enclosure was identified as a 'camp', along with two cemeteries. [8] In 1973 aerial photography showed many large pits, two streets and a building with flint foundations, close to the river. [9] Fieldwalking and metal detection over many years revealed multiple finds of coins and other artefacts: brooches, figurines, pottery. The location has been identified as one of eight small Roman towns in Suffolk, including Icklingham, Long Melford and Felixstowe, that of Wixoe being estimated to occupy 12 hectares. [10]
In 2011, on the Suffolk side of the Stour, archaeological digs and magnetic survey, as part of the Abberton pipeline installation, have revealed a small town occupied from 100-400 AD, occupying a position of some local strategic significance because of its road connections. The Via Devana from Chester to Colchester, a military track, passed through. Another road led east from Wixoe, on the north side of the Stour, passing through Long Melford, before heading north-east to Baylham and possibly to Dunwich. A third road led north, probably towards Icklingham and the Icknield Way. A fourth, close to the Ains Ford, is surmised towards the major Roman fort at Great Chesterford, on a more southerly section of the Icknield Way. No clear trace of these roads immediately outside Wixoe can now be seen: the agger in the form of valley side terraces has either been eroded by ploughing or incorporated into field boundaries, as is typical across East Anglia. [11] It is possible that the Stour was navigable as far as Wixoe by flat-bottomed boats; a wharf area may be surmised.
Other features and artefacts date from the 1st century, increasing in the 3rd century and declining in the early 4th century (when Rome withdrew from Britain): a range of domestic buildings and courtyards, boundary ditches, industrial ovens and hearths with evidence of copper, lead and iron workings, cobbled surfaces, pits for quarrying and storage, burials, streets. [12] The estimated size has now been raised to 24 hectares. [13] The town seems to be a rural commercial centre, with industrial production relying on local timber (charcoal) and imported metals. It fits into the pattern of small towns with a hinterland of 8–10 km in radius, representing a day's journey; five other Roman towns lie within 15–25 km. [14] Its size and commercial activity increased in the 3rd century as did many other towns; remains of a defensive ditch may also belong to that period. [15] As with other East Anglian sites, in the absence of building stone, it was timber built. It was a 'planned' settlement in the sense that, though there are limited prehistoric finds, it did not supplant an earlier settlement. Judging by the amount of material, particularly pottery and coins, it was probably built after the Boudiccan revolt and the sacking of Camulodunum (Colchester). This is the biggest Roman find in Suffolk for 25 years. [16] The final report of this excavation is expected in 2013.
Sudbury is a market town in the south west of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour near the Essex border, 60 miles (97 km) north-east of London. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 13,063. It is the largest town in the Babergh local government district and part of the South Suffolk constituency.
Colchester is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.
Clare is a market town on the north bank of the River Stour in Suffolk, England. Clare is in southwest Suffolk, 14 miles (23 km) from Bury St Edmunds and 9 miles (14 km) from Sudbury. Clare won Village of the Year in 2010 and Anglia in Bloom award for Best Large Village 2011 for its floral displays in 2011. In March 2015, The Sunday Times and Zoopla placed Clare amongst the top 50 UK rural locations, having "period properties and rich history without the chocolate-box perfection – and the coach trips".
Sudbury railway station is the northern terminus of the Gainsborough Line, a branch off the Great Eastern Main Line in the East of England, serving the town of Sudbury, Suffolk. It is 11 miles 67 chains (19.05 km) down the line from the southern terminus of Marks Tey and 58 miles 32 chains (93.99 km) measured from London Liverpool Street; the preceding station on the branch is Bures. Its three-letter station code is SUY. The platform has an operational length for two-coach trains.
Long Melford, colloquially and historically also referred to as Melford, is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Sudbury, approximately 16 miles (26 km) from Colchester and 14 miles (23 km) from Bury St Edmunds. It is one of Suffolk's "wool towns" and is a former market town. The parish also includes the hamlets of Bridge Street and Cuckoo Tye.
Colchester in Essex, England, has a number of notable churches.
Dedham is a village within the borough of Colchester in northeast Essex, England, on the River Stour and the border of Essex and Suffolk. The nearest town to Dedham is the small market town of Manningtree.
Great Chesterford is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is 13 miles (20 km) north from Bishop's Stortford, 10 miles (16 km) south from Cambridge and about 25 miles (40 km) northwest from the city and Essex county town of Chelmsford.
The Icknield Way Path or Icknield Way Trail is a long distance footpath and riding route in East Anglia, England. The ancient Icknield Way itself is unique among long-distance trails because it can claim to be ‘the oldest road in Britain’. It consists of prehistoric pathways, ancient when the Romans came; the route is dotted with archaeological remains. It survives today in splendid tracks and green lanes along the ‘chalk spine’ of southern England.
Icklingham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located about 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Bury St Edmunds, 4 miles (6.4 km) south-east of Mildenhall and 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Thetford in Norfolk. The village is on the A1101 road between Bury St Edmunds and Mildenhall in the north-west of the county. The area around the village, characterised by a sandy gravel-laden soil, is known as Breckland, though an arm of the fen-like peat follows the River Lark past the village.
The Stour Valley Railway is a partially closed railway line that ran between Shelford, near Cambridge and Marks Tey in Essex, England. The line opened in sections between 1849 and 1865. The route from Shelford to Sudbury closed on 6 March 1967 leaving only the section from Sudbury to Marks Tey, known as the Gainsborough Line, in operation.
The Long Melford–Bury St Edmunds branch line was a railway between Long Melford on the Stour Valley Railway and Bury St Edmunds on the Ipswich to Ely Line. The line opened on 9 August 1865 and closed to passengers on 10 April 1961 and freight on 19 April 1965.
Black Ditches is an earthwork close to the village of Cavenham of Suffolk, and part of it is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The earthwork is 4.5 miles long between the River Lark at Lackford and the Icknield Way. It is described by the Suffolk Historic Environment Record as having no direct dating evidence but "by analogy with other linear earthworks in the region it is usually assumed to be post Roman".
All Saints' Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Icklingham, Suffolk, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands in the highest point in the village, adjacent to the A1101 road between Mildenhall and Bury St Edmunds. This was formerly the ancient trackway of Icknield Way, and Icklingham is close to an important junction on this trackway.
Within the boundaries of Clare Parish lies what appears to be an ancient camp, an earthwork enclosure known variously as Erbury, Clare Camp or the Anglo-Roman fort, at the north end of the town, just to the west of Bridewell Street. The name Erbury is first seen in an inquest and land valuation in 1295, referring to a house, the land around it and a garden. This seemed to be part of the largest and most profitable pasture land in the area, lying outside the town and forming a part of Clare Manor. Erbury means 'earthen fort' from Old English. Bury is a common placename across Britain and refers to a fortified place: it turns up in various guises across Western Europe: borough, burgh, bourg, burg.
St Peter and St Paul's Church, Clare is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Clare, Suffolk. It is one of the largest and most beautiful in East Anglia, described as a "large and handsome church... within a spacious churchyard", and is included by Simon Jenkins in his 2009 book England's Thousand Best Churches, where he awards it three stars.
The Stour Valley riots, also called the Anti-Popery riots, were a series of anti-Roman Catholic riots and attacks which took place across southern East Anglia throughout 1642. The unrest was concentrated in the area surrounding the River Stour, Suffolk.
A Wool town is a name given to towns and villages, particularly in Suffolk and north Essex, that were the centre of the woven cloth industry in the Middle Ages.
Nina Crummy is a British archaeologist and artefact specialist, especially of Roman material culture.