Whitton, Suffolk
Encyclopedia
Whitton is an ancient parish and now an area of Ipswich
, in Suffolk
. It is thought to have been a Saxon
colony
, possibly dating from the Saxon invasion of around 430 AD. It appears in the Domesday Book
as Widituna, possibly meaning Hwita's farm or White's farm.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Botolph. The latter is a reminder of all that remains of the now demolished church at the tiny hamlet of Thurleston. St. Botolph was still in use in 1500 but after being amalgamated with Whitton it fell into disrepair. It remained in use as a barn until 1862 when it was demolished and much of the building material used to construct a south aisle and tower for St. Mary's at Whitton.
The old village of Whitton was centred on what was the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Some old buildings remain including the Whitton Maypole - a popular local pub. A map of 1889 shows a "corn" windmill at the top of what is now Shakespeare Rd. There was a post office which was in use until the 1980s and a police station built in 1905. This is now a private house next to the entrance of Thomas Wolsey School. The village boasted a second pub almost opposite the police station, The Crown. This was demolished in the 1980s as part of the Ipswich by-pass project and a link road to the by-pass now occupies the spot.
An 1891 map shows a "school" in the grounds of St.Mary and St.Botolph Church and another "school" is marked adjacent to the police station. A smithy (forge) is also marked just to the north of the police station on the Norwich Road. The footpath from the Norwich Road to the cornmill remains today as a public right of way south of Ballater Close and north of the recreation ground; the "rec" doubling as playing fields for the Primary School. Whitton Farm was a working farm on the corner of Norwich Road and Whitton Church Lane until the early 1980s. An Ordnance Survey bench mark of 132.8 ft is marked on the road opposite the Whitton Farm buildings. A building labelled White House is shown where Arnold Close and Coleridge Road now stand. This is not to be confused with another building just to the west of Norwich Road which bears the same name and after which the modern White House council estate was named.
Under what is now housing in Tranmere Grove and Chesterfield Drive lies the remains of a Roman villa. It was excavated in 1931 and again in 1949 before residential building started. Coins were found along with a mosaic floor which is on display in Ipswich Museum. It featured on C4's "Time Team" programme in 2004. The Team's dig help provide more evidence gathered in the 1949 dig by renowned archaeologist Basil Brown
. This area has for centuries been called Castle Hill but there never was a castle, perhaps the location of the villa was handed down as folk memory. Castlehill Farm stood just yards away prior to the housing scheme.
Whitton estate was built around the village of Whitton in the mid 20th century, thereby joining it to the nearby town of Ipswich. Most of the street names are called after poets and playwrights.
The parish of Whitton is bordered by Ipswich to the south, the parish of Westerfield
to the east, the parishes of Akenham
and Claydon
to the north and Bramford
to the west.
,
Arnold Close; named after Victorian poet Matthew Arnold
,
Ballater Close; after the former Ballater Lodge shown on the 1889 map where the close now stands,
Blake Road; after poet, seer and philosopher William Blake
,
Browning Road; after 19th century poet and playwright Robert Browning
,
Bunyan Close; after 17th century Christian preacher and author of The Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan
,
Burns Road; after Robert Burns
, the famous Scottish poet,
Byron Road; after the ill-fated Romantic poet Lord George Byron,
Carlyle Close; named after the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle
,
Chaucer Road; named after the 14th century "father" of English literature Geoffrey Chaucer
,
Coleridge Road; named after Samuel Taylor Coleridge
,
Defoe Road; named after Daniel Defoe
, author of Robinson Crusoe
,
Goldsmith Road; after Anglo-Irish 18th century writer Oliver Goldsmith
,
Hardy Crescent; after Dorset author Thomas Hardy
,
Homer Close; named after the Greek author of the epic poems the Iliad
and the Odyssey, he lived in the 8th century BC,
Keats Crescent; after the early 19th century Romantic poet John Keats
,
Kipling Road; after the Imperalist writer and poet Rudyard Kipling
,
Macaulay Road, after the Leicestershire writer and poet Thomas Babbington Macaulay,
Meredith Road, after the Victorian novelist and poet George Meredith
,
Old Norwich Road; once this was the main and very busy, highway linking Ipswich and Norwich until the Ipswich by-pass was completed in 1992 but now this road is only open to walkers, cyclists and authorised buses.
Shakespeare Road, named after the most famous English playwright William Shakespeare
,
Spenser Road; named after 16th century poet Edmund Spenser
,
Stratford Road, this links Whitton with the Castle Hill estate and is named after birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford-on-Avon
Swinburne Road, after controversial/"risque" Victorian poet Algernon Charles Swinburne
,
Thackeray Road; after William Makepeace Thackeray
the 19th century satirist and writer,
Whitton Church Lane; unsurprisingly a former cart track (lane) connecting the church of St. Mary to the Norwich Road.
Wordsworth Crescent; named after the Romantic period poet from the Lake District
, William Wordsworth
All of the estate shops are in Meredith Road. An Aldi supermarket occupies the site of the former estate pub; the Safe Harbour built in a traditional 1930s style with mock Tudor chimney stacks. Other pubs in Ipswich built in the same style include The Haven on Felixstowe Road, The Golden Hind on Nacton Road, The Royal George on Colchester Road and the former Waveney Pub on Bramford Road demolished in 2007 to make way for new affordable social housing. The estate has a primary school - Whitton Infants and Whitton Junior along with the Thomas Wolsey School for children with severe disabilities. There is a recreation park between Shakespeare Rd and Norwich Rd and on Whitton Church Lane a 1980s built council owned gym and sports centre.
Other shops in Meredith Rd include :
East of England Co-op; supermarket,
East of England Co-op; pharmacy,
Al's Cafe; a greasy spoon takeaway and eatery,
The Post Office, busy on pension and benefit claimant pay days, situated in Martins Newsagent,
St. Elizabeth Hospice Charity Shop,
Kays; florists and greengrocers,
Jade House; Chinese takeaway,
Little India; Indian takeaway,
Fry-days; traditional fish and chip shop,
Palmers Bakery; a long established family run firm based in Haughley
,
G.J. Hammond; fancy goods, gifts, video rental,
The Bekash Tandoori "Restaurant" which makes the ridiculous and unsubstantiated claim that it is the "most exclusive Indian Restaurant in East Anglia",
Vanity Hair, ladies hair stylists,
BP Petrol Station and small convenience shop,
There is also a NHS clinic in Meredith Road.
A branch of Ladbrokes, bookmakers is just around the corner in Shakespeare Road.
A Best Western Hotel, the Gatehouse can be found along the Old Norwich Road. A 9 roomed hotel close to the A14.
C4 Time Team http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/2004_ips.html
Thomas Wolsey School http://www.thomaswolsey.com/index.php
Whitton Community School http://www.whitton.suffolk.sch.uk
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. It is thought to have been a Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
, possibly dating from the Saxon invasion of around 430 AD. It appears in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Widituna, possibly meaning Hwita's farm or White's farm.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Botolph. The latter is a reminder of all that remains of the now demolished church at the tiny hamlet of Thurleston. St. Botolph was still in use in 1500 but after being amalgamated with Whitton it fell into disrepair. It remained in use as a barn until 1862 when it was demolished and much of the building material used to construct a south aisle and tower for St. Mary's at Whitton.
The old village of Whitton was centred on what was the main Ipswich to Norwich road. Some old buildings remain including the Whitton Maypole - a popular local pub. A map of 1889 shows a "corn" windmill at the top of what is now Shakespeare Rd. There was a post office which was in use until the 1980s and a police station built in 1905. This is now a private house next to the entrance of Thomas Wolsey School. The village boasted a second pub almost opposite the police station, The Crown. This was demolished in the 1980s as part of the Ipswich by-pass project and a link road to the by-pass now occupies the spot.
An 1891 map shows a "school" in the grounds of St.Mary and St.Botolph Church and another "school" is marked adjacent to the police station. A smithy (forge) is also marked just to the north of the police station on the Norwich Road. The footpath from the Norwich Road to the cornmill remains today as a public right of way south of Ballater Close and north of the recreation ground; the "rec" doubling as playing fields for the Primary School. Whitton Farm was a working farm on the corner of Norwich Road and Whitton Church Lane until the early 1980s. An Ordnance Survey bench mark of 132.8 ft is marked on the road opposite the Whitton Farm buildings. A building labelled White House is shown where Arnold Close and Coleridge Road now stand. This is not to be confused with another building just to the west of Norwich Road which bears the same name and after which the modern White House council estate was named.
Under what is now housing in Tranmere Grove and Chesterfield Drive lies the remains of a Roman villa. It was excavated in 1931 and again in 1949 before residential building started. Coins were found along with a mosaic floor which is on display in Ipswich Museum. It featured on C4's "Time Team" programme in 2004. The Team's dig help provide more evidence gathered in the 1949 dig by renowned archaeologist Basil Brown
Basil Brown
Basil John Wait Brown was a farmer, archaeologist, amateur astronomer and author who most famously discovered the buried ship at Sutton Hoo and excavated its sandy outline on the eve of war in 1939....
. This area has for centuries been called Castle Hill but there never was a castle, perhaps the location of the villa was handed down as folk memory. Castlehill Farm stood just yards away prior to the housing scheme.
Whitton estate was built around the village of Whitton in the mid 20th century, thereby joining it to the nearby town of Ipswich. Most of the street names are called after poets and playwrights.
The parish of Whitton is bordered by Ipswich to the south, the parish of Westerfield
Westerfield
Westerfield is a village in Suffolk, England.It is located approximately two miles north of the centre of Ipswich. The village is served by Westerfield railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line....
to the east, the parishes of Akenham
Akenham
Akenham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in Eastern England. Located on the northwestern edge of Ipswich, in 2005 it had an estimated population of 60....
and Claydon
Claydon, Suffolk
Claydon is a small village just north of Ipswich in Suffolk, England. The meaning of the name is 'clay-on-the-hill', though it is not much of a hill....
to the north and Bramford
Bramford
Bramford is a medium-sized village, three miles west of Ipswich, Suffolk, in the Mid Suffolk administrative district. Recorded in the Domesday Book as "Brunfort" or "Branfort". The River Gipping , runs at the bottom of the village and was a busy navigable waterway during the 19th century...
to the west.
A full list of roads on Whitton Estate
Akenham Close; named after Whitton's northern neighbouring parish of AkenhamAkenham
Akenham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in Eastern England. Located on the northwestern edge of Ipswich, in 2005 it had an estimated population of 60....
,
Arnold Close; named after Victorian poet Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...
,
Ballater Close; after the former Ballater Lodge shown on the 1889 map where the close now stands,
Blake Road; after poet, seer and philosopher William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
,
Browning Road; after 19th century poet and playwright Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
,
Bunyan Close; after 17th century Christian preacher and author of The Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan
John Bunyan
John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...
,
Burns Road; after Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
, the famous Scottish poet,
Byron Road; after the ill-fated Romantic poet Lord George Byron,
Carlyle Close; named after the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
,
Chaucer Road; named after the 14th century "father" of English literature Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
,
Coleridge Road; named after Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
,
Defoe Road; named after Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
, author of Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
,
Goldsmith Road; after Anglo-Irish 18th century writer Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
,
Hardy Crescent; after Dorset author Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
,
Homer Close; named after the Greek author of the epic poems the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
and the Odyssey, he lived in the 8th century BC,
Keats Crescent; after the early 19th century Romantic poet John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
,
Kipling Road; after the Imperalist writer and poet Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
,
Macaulay Road, after the Leicestershire writer and poet Thomas Babbington Macaulay,
Meredith Road, after the Victorian novelist and poet George Meredith
George Meredith
George Meredith, OM was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era.- Life :Meredith was born in Portsmouth, England, a son and grandson of naval outfitters. His mother died when he was five. At the age of 14 he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, where he remained for two...
,
Old Norwich Road; once this was the main and very busy, highway linking Ipswich and Norwich until the Ipswich by-pass was completed in 1992 but now this road is only open to walkers, cyclists and authorised buses.
Shakespeare Road, named after the most famous English playwright William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
,
Spenser Road; named after 16th century poet Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
,
Stratford Road, this links Whitton with the Castle Hill estate and is named after birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford-on-Avon
Swinburne Road, after controversial/"risque" Victorian poet Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
,
Thackeray Road; after William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
the 19th century satirist and writer,
Whitton Church Lane; unsurprisingly a former cart track (lane) connecting the church of St. Mary to the Norwich Road.
Wordsworth Crescent; named after the Romantic period poet from the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
, William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
All of the estate shops are in Meredith Road. An Aldi supermarket occupies the site of the former estate pub; the Safe Harbour built in a traditional 1930s style with mock Tudor chimney stacks. Other pubs in Ipswich built in the same style include The Haven on Felixstowe Road, The Golden Hind on Nacton Road, The Royal George on Colchester Road and the former Waveney Pub on Bramford Road demolished in 2007 to make way for new affordable social housing. The estate has a primary school - Whitton Infants and Whitton Junior along with the Thomas Wolsey School for children with severe disabilities. There is a recreation park between Shakespeare Rd and Norwich Rd and on Whitton Church Lane a 1980s built council owned gym and sports centre.
Other shops in Meredith Rd include :
East of England Co-op; supermarket,
East of England Co-op; pharmacy,
Al's Cafe; a greasy spoon takeaway and eatery,
The Post Office, busy on pension and benefit claimant pay days, situated in Martins Newsagent,
St. Elizabeth Hospice Charity Shop,
Kays; florists and greengrocers,
Jade House; Chinese takeaway,
Little India; Indian takeaway,
Fry-days; traditional fish and chip shop,
Palmers Bakery; a long established family run firm based in Haughley
Haughley
Haughley is a village in the English county of Suffolk.-External links:*...
,
G.J. Hammond; fancy goods, gifts, video rental,
The Bekash Tandoori "Restaurant" which makes the ridiculous and unsubstantiated claim that it is the "most exclusive Indian Restaurant in East Anglia",
Vanity Hair, ladies hair stylists,
BP Petrol Station and small convenience shop,
There is also a NHS clinic in Meredith Road.
A branch of Ladbrokes, bookmakers is just around the corner in Shakespeare Road.
A Best Western Hotel, the Gatehouse can be found along the Old Norwich Road. A 9 roomed hotel close to the A14.
See also
- Whitton United F.C.Whitton United F.C.Whitton United F.C. is an English football club based in the Whitton area of Ipswich, Suffolk. The club are currently members of Eastern Counties League Division One and play at the King George V Playing Fields....
C4 Time Team http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/2004_ips.html
Thomas Wolsey School http://www.thomaswolsey.com/index.php
Whitton Community School http://www.whitton.suffolk.sch.uk