Welcome to Wickhambrook
Wickhambrook is one of the parishes of West Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council
If you visit Little Bradley church, I am sure you will be struck by the monument to John Daye, his wife Alice le Hunte and their thirteen children. But who was John Daye? Wendy Barnes has been researching the history of Little Bradley for thirty years and keeps discovering more, thanks to the internet…
February saw the return of Sarah Doig, to talk about the history of almshouses. Beginning with the monks in the Middle Ages, there has been an obligation on Christians to look after the less fortunate, whether they are old, ill or disabled…
There was an excellent turn-out for our first meeting of the year. One of our members, Antony Foreman, gave a talk entitled ‘Snapshots of Syria’ which was based on a trip he had taken there in the 1990s…
As a child, I well remember looking at cartoons in the newspaper and an annual compilation by Giles. Like most of the audience at History Society in November, I had no idea that he lived in Ipswich and that many of the people and places were familiar to the locals.
Dr Nick Amor was our October speaker and his subject was the Medieval Woollen Cloth Industry in Suffolk. We already knew the importance of Suffolk in the rearing of sheep and the making of cloth but one of the most interesting pieces of new (to us)information was that in 1483, Richard Broun, a woolman of Wickhambrook was sued in the courts for £40, the equivalent of many thousands today…
Thomas Blague of Horringer was rightly described by John Sutton , our speaker for September, as Suffolk’s most famous cavalier. He was born at Little Horringer Hall in 1613 and his early life is a mystery. He was probably a mercenary in Europe, as his military skills were evident in his later life…
During the summer the History Society went on two excellent outings with fine weather, interesting locations and good company. The first was to Lincoln Cathedral and Castle where we had guided tours by two guides who brought the past to life and spent lots of time chatting, answering questions and generally making us feel very welcome. We also visited Gressenhall Workhouse and Museum of Norfolk Life…
The May meeting saw a welcome return of Tony Kirby. His talk “Churches and Chapels since the Reformation”, illustrated by slides of East Anglia, was full of interest. The period 1530-1560 saw a 1,000 years of religious building destroyed with the destruction of abbeys and monasteries…
At the AGM, the committee and office-bearers were re-elected to serve for another year. The secretary, Gillian Cooper, unveiled the new programme and gave details of summer outings to Lincoln Castle and Cathedral and Gressenhall Workhouse Museum and Farm. The speaker for the evening was Martin Roper and his subject was History and the Printed Cartoon…
Robin Ford brought an actual ‘Magic Lantern’ to the March meeting so that he could show some of his very interesting collection of original slides…
In February we welcomed Kate Jewell to the meeting. She has not spoken to us before and we have discovered a gem (pun intended!) What a delightful, knowledgeable and fluent speaker! We coild have listened all night to her talk on ‘Cakes, Ales and Partying…
Robert Burridge gave a talk on Native Americans, which covered the Indian wars, early settlers, strife between the tribes and the white men who wanted to take over the land…
We had a very successful weekend in every way. All Saints Church made £2,000, the History Society gained some new members and everyone who came enjoyed their visit and spent a lot of time browsing in the church so all our hard work paid off…
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the1500s: These are interesting…