Earliest Information.
There is evidence to suggest that the Romans visited ‘Waldringfield’ but there is no real evidence of a settlement. Roman artefacts have been found in the north field, to the south of the church.
From several Anglo Saxon finds there is sufficient evidence to suggest that there was an Anglo Saxon settlement in the village.
Origin of village’s name.
Waldringfield or Waldinga.The field or open space belonging to Waldehere’s people. It is mentioned in the Little Doomsday Book of 1086. There was a landholder Beorthtmaer or Brictmer with 1 and a half carucate of land about 180 acres.
1 carucate about 120 acres or 8 bonates.
Caruca, plough tem of 8 oxen.
People classed as Freemen or Sokemen. Below them were the Villeins, Bordars and serfs.
Bordars were smallholders.
TRE in the reign of King Edward [1st.]
Geld a land tax.
After 1086, the records until the 19th. century are scanty and sometimes conflicting, as are the earlier ones.
Lords of the Manor.
Lords of the Manor are recorded from 1305 onwards, but it is uncertain if some or indeed any of them actually lived in the village.
The first recorded Lord of the Manor is Sir Robert Hilton, about whom nothing is known, or at least I haven’t found it. Many of the old documents refer to Waldringfield Hilton, so it seems reasonable to suppose he lived in the village.
During the 15th. century Sir Robert Wingfield was Lord of the Manor. The Wingfields were and still are a prominent East Anglian family with manors at Kersey, Martlesham Clopton, Brantham & Shottisham.
Circa 1542 John Purpet was Lord of the Manor. Purpet’s were an Ipswich family, one being a wax chandler.
In 1562 Anthony Wingfield is recorded as Lord of the Manor.
By 1662 Thomas Essington was Lord of the Manor, but is recorded as living at Brightwell Hall, now demolished. Memorials to two of his children can be seen in the church. It seems he may have died without surviving issue. It was during Thomas Essington’s tenure that the minor Manor of Rivers Hall was absorbed into the principal Manor of Hilton.
Records of the Rivers Hall Manor go back to 1066.
During the 17th. century Sir Samuel Barnardiston was Lord of the Manor. A prominent member of Suffolk Society he was also an M.P.
In 1804 Mrs. Elizabeth Paiesti was Lord of the Manor.
By 1885 Rev. George Henry Porter, Rector of Marlesford, was Lord of the Manor. It appears that he bequeathed the Lordship to his son Mr. Richard Porter, a Solicitor in Ipswich, who lived at Rushmere. Another of the Porter family lived at Hemley Hall.
Written records.
In Kelly’s Suffolk Traveller of 1735, Waldringfield is listed, but no narrative. In later editions there is a short write up.
In White’s Gazetter of Suffolk 1844, Waldringfield is called small and insignificant.
Comparative populations.
Comparing the population of Waldringfield with other river Deben villages, such as Ramsholt, Sutton & Bawdsey between 1801 and 1871 Waldringfield was smaller and developing more slowly.
It was not until the coprolite mining started, to be followed by Mason’s cement works that any significant increase in Waldringfield’s population can be noted. At the same time the other villages were growing quite quickly. It is a matter of record that men were ferried over from the eastern bank villages to work in Waldringfield at the cement works.
From remarks made by Bob Merrett at his recent lecture, it was proposed to have a railway from Melton out to Bawdsey.
Why did the Waldringfield develop more slowly than other river Deben villages? Absentee Lords of the Manor, poor soil for crop growing? Waldringfield did not flourish, until the coprolite mining and later the cement works came to the village.
Where coprolite was mined on copyhold land Richard Porter, Lord of the Manor, wanted 2/3rds. of the net profit. The Rector offered 1/7th, they eventually settled for 1/5th. [See correspondence in WHG locker].
Georgiana Waller, daughter of the Rector Thomas Henry Waller, writing in the early 20th. century was at a loss to know why her ancestors chose to live at Ramsholt rather than Waldringfield. She writes of Ramsholt:-
‘Its population was exceedingly small, its landing stage inferior at a time when river traffic was of some importance. It was strikingly inaccessible to the conveniences of the age, whilst Waldringfield was in walking distance of Woodbridge and only eight miles from the County town of Ipswich’.
Her opinions are not corroborated by the population census.
Rural poverty.
The wages of the cement workers were higher than those paid to the agricultural labourers. From the 1881 and 1891 Census returns not many cement workers lived in the village but ‘commuted’ from the other villages, although Mason’s eventually built a terrace of cottages for their workers and bought other tenements from the Rector.
The Rector spent some of his profits from coprolite mining on renovating the church 1863/4 and building a school room in 1864 and a new larger school on its present site in 1875. He was responsible for other charitable acts in the village, distributing coal & blankets to the poor in times of acute hardship, see various notes he left behind. When Mrs. Eliza Stollery was left a widow with ten or eleven children he helped her set up a village shop, on the site of the present post office on the corner of Sandy Lane.
In later years he was helped in these charitable deeds by Mr. William Ogden, a summer visitor from about 1891. Mr. Ogden arranged and paid for village celebration of the 1897 Diamond Jubilee. [see note on old programme].
In 18…. Capt. Weller, not to be confused with Waller, brother in law of the Rector William Suart, left £20 to be invested in 3 % consols, [twelve shillings per annum or 60pence] to buy bread for the poor of the village. See memorial tablet in church.
In 1736 a removal order was made against Elizabeth Winter a bastard child, to Little Glemham. see FC125/G3 As she would have been a charge on Waldringfield poor rates.
In 1810 Thomas Kaley, a pauper belonging to Waldringfield Suffolk was transported for stealing a sheep; a son left that parish at 14 or 15 and went for soldier. See Ringer East Sussex overseers of the Poor settlement papers ref Par 461/32, 461/32/2/108 and 461/32/4/27
Poor relief.
1776 £ 13.9.3 1803 £ 29.9.2 1818 £ 109.10.0 1830 £ 115.5.0 1832 £ 93.9.0
1834 £ 144.0.0
19th. Century villagers.
The Suart family are of some interest. Mrs. Suart was Patron of the Living, [see White’s Gazetter] and it is not unreasonable to assume she put her husband in the Living. I was told many years ago by Cyril Sutton the schoolmaster’s son, that Mrs Suart was rather autocratic. She had the lane which was to the north of what was to become the schoolroom site, running through what is now the Rivers Hall wood, moved to the south into what is now Fishpond Road. If one looks carefully in Rivers Hall wood it is not difficult to imagine a lane or path running through the wood.
Centre of village.
An often asked question is:- ‘Why was the Victorian village so far away from the church?’
Short answer I don’t know. But I would suggest that, years ago, the village land was owned three different types of people.
- The Lord of the Manor.
- Ecclesiastical or Glebe lands.
- Freeholders and yeomen.
On the assumption that most of the serfs, villeins etc. had to work for the Lord of the Manor they lived on or near those lands. In Waldringfield these lands were away from the church.
By 1563 the Goss family were freeholders in the village and owned all or part of what is now White Hall and Church farms. They seem to have been the first NIMBY’s as apart from the two farmhouses, White Hall cottage and associated farm buildings there are no residential properties on those farms.
Advowson or Patronage of the Living.
The Patronage of the local church could be bought & sold as a commodity. The power of the Patron was not inconsiderable, and he could appoint somebody to the living against the express wishes of the Diocesan Bishop.
Patrons.
1603 John Purpet [Purpet family also Lord of Manor c 1542]
1831 W. Edge
1891 Rev. Thomas Henry Waller
1912 Lord Chancellor alternates with Waller family.
Waller family & Lord Chancellor
Rev. Trevor and Rev. Arthur Henry Naunton Waller with Lord Chancellor
1995 Trevor Alfred Morfey Waller with Lord Chancellor
The Waller Family.
It is impossible to record the history of Waldringfield without mentioning the Waller family.
Their first recorded connection with Waldringfield was when a Jeptha Waller of Woodbridge married Susan Goss of Waldringfield in 1639. Her father William Goss possessed land in Waldringfield, which are known today as White Hall and Church farms.
Records are incomplete but it appears that the Wallers lived in Waldringfield for less than 100 years before moving across the river to Ramsholt. Another Jeptha who inherited the farms, died at Ramsholt in 1748.
The farms were tenanted until 1830 when George Waller, a great great great grandson of Jeptha married Anne Edwards of Wood Hall. The young couple came back live at White Hall. It is assumed that George as a younger son was sent back to Waldringfield, leaving his elder brother Thomas to inherit the Sutton Hall farm.
Thomas Waller, a bachelor, died in 1890 leaving his estate to be divided among his numerous relatives. Some of the family fell out over the will and lawyers appear to have become the main beneficiaries. The estate was sold out of the family, to the Quilters.
George died in 1834 leaving a widow and two small children. His widow returned to Wood Hall, Sutton and lived with her father until she remarried in 1844. Their son Thomas Henry returned to Waldringfield in 1862 as Rector, having inherited the White Hall and Church farms from his father. His sister Georgiana died shortly after he took up the Waldringfield living. Anne [Edwards/Waller] Whalley came back to Waldringfield shortly after the death of her second husband in 1869, and lived at Rectory Cottage now Woodside until death in 1882. The cottage was built as a retirement cottage for Anne & her second husband Daniel Whalley who was nephew of John Constable R. A.
The Waller family are still in the village today. The most suprising fact about the Wallers is that although Thomas Henry had eleven children, ten of whom reached marriageable age, he has only thirty direct descendents living today. He did not allow his daughters to marry, the five boys all eventually married. Only one, Arthur the youngest of the family had any grand children. This has in no small measure allowed, until the present generation of landowners, the farms to be kept in the family and passed down through the generations.
All Saints Church, Waldringfield. By Rev. Trevor Waller
There was probably a Church on the same site in Saxon times. very small and perhaps built of wood. A Saxon burial urn was dug in the Churchyard in 1841 which suggests that the site was a burial place in heathen times and was taken over by the Christians on which to build their church.
The brick tower was built in the early 16th. century perhaps during the Rectorship of Wiliam Coke. He came from a wealthy Norfolk family who may well have paid for the new building. The red brick tower is Tudor work, unfortunately the brick mullions of the West window were removed in 1874 and replaced with stone.
One small window on the South side of the nave is very low and could well have been for lepers to see the celebration of the Mass from the Churchyard. This being so the walls of the nave may be considerably older than the tower about 14th. century.
According to an inventory dated 1790 there were four bells in the tower which by 1813 had been reduced to one. The tower was restored and reroofed in 1809 which would suggest that the other bells were sold for gunmetal in the Napoleonic Wars and the money used to repair the tower.
The more interesting story is that the bells were stolen and the third bell capsized the boat as it was being taken across the river Orwell will remain fiction unless one day when the river is being dredged it is found.
In 1862 the church was in a ruinous state with the roof leaking in many places and walls green with mould. It was in this year that the Rev. Thomas Henry Waller was instituted and he soon set to work to restore the Church. He mined coprolite from the adjacent glebe and with the money so obtained put the Church in good order.
The 18th. century horse box pews were removed [some of which were used to make shutters on Rectory cottage] and were replaced by the present oak benches. The Georgian pulpit and a chair in the south side of the sanctuary alone remain of that period. The East window was added, which is one of the better examples of Victorian stained glass. The South East window and the two North windows were also put in at this time. Many beams including the rood beam were removed and steel tie rods were substituted and the ceiling installed.
A barrel organ provided the music for services. Thirty pounds was spent on it in 1864 which would lead one to think it was quite a large instrument playing from 20 to 30 tunes.
A very fine 16th. century octagonal font has the symbols of the four evangelists and four angels round the sides.
The rood beam was cut into three pieces with other remains of the rood screen can be seen incorporated in the porch roof.
Other information.
In 1831 there was a Curate living in Glebe House stipend £ 50 p.a.
In 1841 the tithes were commuted to cash at £ 170 p.a.
A large rectory was built in 1839 on the site of a former manor house, now known as Rivers Hall. A new rectory built in 1904/05 for the new Rector [Rev. Arthur P. Waller] This new Rectory was on well water and did not have electricity until 1948 when the next Rector Trevor Waller was instituted. Another rectory was built in about 1980, near to the Church.
Rectors. See board in Church
Baptist Chapel
In 1606 it is recorded that there were 2 recusants in the village i.e. refused to attend Church of England services. So there is a long standing tradition of dissenters in the village.
Original meeting house or Chapel built 1823.
The Chapel or meeting house is on Waldringfield Heath and not in the main village. The possible reasons for this are that the Lord of the Manor and any free holders were likely to be associated with the Established Church or possibly the Roman Catholic church, and would not allow or want Dissenters to have a chapel or meeting house on their land.
It is seems that there was a day school at the Chapel in 1848. If so this would pre date the building of the school room by some 14 years.
Pastors. See Steve Wyncoll
For further information regarding the Chapel contact Steve Wyncoll.
From its inception in 1823 and the arrival of THW in 1862 the Baptist Chapel appears to have been more successful in attracting a congregation. By 1862 the C of E church was in a ruinous state and was saved by the coprolite mining in the village.
Comparative figures for the Church & Chapel congregations and income during those years and subsequent years would be interesting. These days with greater mobility, thanks to the motor car, congregations can come from a much wider area. In the 19th. century travel was much more restricted.
School.
The Chapel school of 1848 to be confirmed.
Apart from any Sunday school’s attached to the Church or Chapel.
In 1833 12 at C of E and 50 at Chapel.
The first school room to be was in 1864. Paid for out of coprolite royalties. It is not clear if THW built the original schoolroom for his own children, by this time he had seven, or for all the village children.
THW certainly built the present school, now much enlarged, in 1874/5 for Waldringfield & nearby village children. Attendance in 1891 85.
Head teachers.
For further school history see Jackie Brindsley.
Coprolite Mining.
There is a file in WHG locker on the coprolite mining. Malcolm Crawford has done a lot research on the coprolite industry.
Cement Works.
Still looking for information.
Farming.
Number of farmers working the land now much reduced, David Parken & his son. See David Parken for more details
Inhabited houses.
1674 14 1801 24 1851 42 1871 48 1901 61 1951 102 1981 152
Population
1086 16 1327 31 1524 13 1603 47 adults 1674 17 households 1801 118 inhabitants 1831 166 1851 169 1871 228 1901 278 1931 205 1951 289 1971 404 1981 392
World War Two.
Restricted access to village. See Hamish Fraser
Dummy invasion fleet in river.
Bombs landing in village. See John Nunn
Service personnel billeted or camping in the village.
People who were killed or seriously injured during WW2 and WW1.
Notable people who have lived in the village or have some connection.
Sir Laurence Bragg. Nobel Laureate. 1925
Air Commodore Sir Peter Vanneck. Lord Mayor London 1978
Mr. Leslie Bear. Editor of Hansard.
Mrs. Dorothy Stevens. Gave the land for the playing field & tennis courts, set up Sunny Hill & Sullivan Place.
People killed on active service.
Recreational clubs etc.
Cricket club started playing on the marsh.
Reading & Recreation Club.
Bowls.
Tennis courts.
Sailing Club. [there is history of their early years]
W. I.
Childrens play ground.
