Great Bealings

Great Bealings is a small village in Suffolk, England. It has about 302 people living in it in around 113 households.[1] Its nearest towns are Ipswich (6 miles (9.7 km) away) and Woodbridge (2.6 miles (4.2 km)). Nearby villages include Little Bealings, Playford, Culpho, Hasketon and Grundisburgh. The village does not have an obvious centre, and the population is split between two areas — one around Lower Street to the East of the village, and the other at Boot Street/Grundisburgh Road to the West of the village. St Mary's, the village church, is about in the middle of these two centres of population.

Great Bealings

Great Bealings village sign
Great Bealings
Location within Suffolk
Area4.19 km2 (1.62 sq mi)
Population302 (2011)
 Density72/km2 (190/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTM231489
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWoodbridge
Postcode districtIP13
Dialling code01473
PoliceSuffolk
FireSuffolk
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament

The village shares a playing field with Little Bealings, which is located behind the joint Village Hall, and includes a grassed plateau, a fenced and hard surfaced multi-sports court, children's play equipment, and a boules piste. It is named after John Ganzoni, Lord Belstead, who lived in the village for many years, and whose Charitable Trust Fund supported the project.

The River Lark passes through the middle of the village, and is crossed by the main road with a hump back bridge.[2]

History

In the Domesday Book there is mention of the Saxon Hall, owned by Halden, with Anund the priest in attendance. This was on the meadow by the church and was owned by several families such as the de Peche, Clench, and Majors, who knocked it down in 1775 to use the material to aid the construction of Bealings House.

The village has always had a strong agricultural base with several small farms. In White’s gazetteer of Suffolk in 1855, the listed tradesmen are: brickmaker, two boot makers, builder, wheelwright, blacksmith, gardener, shopkeeper, and miller as well as several farmers and gentlemen.

Historical writings

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the village as:

BEALINGS (Great), a parish in Woodbridge district, Suffolk; on a branch of the Deben river, and on the East Suffolk railway, near Bealings station, 2¼. miles W by S of Woodbridge. Post Town, Little Bealings, under Woodbridge. Acres, 1,029. Real property, £2,091. Pop., 338. Houses, 88. The property is divided among a few; and much of it belongs to-Lord Henniker. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £250.* Patron, Lord Henniker. The church is good.[3]

In 1887, John Bartholomew also wrote an entry on Great Bealings in the Gazetteer of the British Isles with a much shorter description:

Bealings, Great, par., E. Suffolk, 2½ miles W. of Woodbridge, 1036 ac., pop. 287.[4]

Notable residents

  • The Seckford family had been landowners in the time of Edward I, with local benefactor Thomas Seckford rebuilding Seckford Hall as the country residence in 1530. He was a close advisor to Elizabeth I. His parents are buried in Great Bealings Church.

Rectors of the Parish

Plaques in the church list the following Rectors:

Anund the Priest 1086
Mathew de Stanton 1306
Geoffrey de Banhale 1307
Richard de Westhorpe 1331
Reginald Bustard 1338
Stephen de Duddeley 1341
Robert de Appleton 1343
Radulphus de Ipswich 1349
Nicholas de Lydgate 1349
John Joye 1350
William de Drayton 1352
Robert de Hethe 1375
John Tubbyng 1395
John Stratton 1407
William Jowle 1448
Robert Coppyng 1464
John Jacob 1476
Richard Williamson 1517
John Walker 1517
John Fayerthwat 1536
Robert Baxter 1542
Robert Gybsonne 1560
Richard Larwood 1566
Robert Hutchinson M.A. 1607
William Gibbins B.A. 1629
Edmund Smith B.A. 1653
Edmund Brome 1672
Richard Cavell 1719
Robert Hingeston M.A. 1726
Wm Dobbyns Humphrey 1766
Philip Meadows B.A. 1804
Wm Chafie Henniker M.A. 1838
Edward Jas. Moor B.A. 1844
Howard Beech M.A. 1886
Francis B Champion M.A. 1917
Frank Mitton 1930
George H Round-Turner 1936
David T Jarvis B.A. 1945
John McMillen O.C.S. 1954
Denis Spencer A.K.C. 1956
J G Steven A.L.C.D H.C.R 1970
Frank Hollingsworth 1975
Michael Skliros 1991
Christine Everett 1996
Pauline Stentiford 2003
Celia Cook 2015

Images of Great Bealings

References

  1. "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  2. Great Bealings History
  3. "BEALINGS (Great) | As described in John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)". www.visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  4. "Bealings, Great | As described in John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)". www.visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. "Records for Richard T Farren". Residents of Great Bealings. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  6. "Richard Thomas Farren". Retrieved 4 April 2017.
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