Wickhambrook - About our Village

The Official Wickhambrook Village Website - homepage


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It seems that our village has always been a busy, interesting place to live as our history and events of today show

In saxon times, the original village - known as Wickham - was probably clustered around the site where All Saints Church now stands. It is in an area of about ten acres of easily-worked silty gravel soil. This is quite different from the heavy land of the present village, which was covered by a vast impenetrable forest, being quite unsuited to tillage by the tools used by the Saxons. Because of the architectural and historical merit of the original village buildings that remain around the church, this part is now a conservation area.
The original School House	Wickhambrook is a scattered village of around one thousand people living on eleven greens, ten miles from Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Clare and Haverhill or as the title of a book by local author John Bean would have it "Ten Miles from Anywhere". The eleven greens follow an Anglo - Saxon settlement pattern of small farms and scattered groups of houses beside the fields. Until the 1980's Wickhambrook boasted a vineyard at Genesis Green where wine was produced. The village has an ancient Parish Church, All Saints, at present undergoing vital and expensive restoration work and is well worth a visit.
There are three large Manor houses, Giffords, Badmondisfield and Clopton Hall, all high status, timber-framed examples of the 16th century. There are several large farmhouses dating from the early 1500’s. At this time, many country dwellers were moving into towns to live, and the farmers who grew food to send to these towns became wealthy. We have many facilities in our village: It is believed that Wickhambrook W.I. is the only W.I. in the County to still have their own hall. The hall is available for hiring and the W.I. is always happy to welcome new members. Our own firestation Three churches and a cemetery The Memorial Social Centre (MSC) is at the heart of the village and provides a venue for most of the clubs and is also available for hire. The MSC also has a recreation ground with a football pitch, tennis court, bowls green and children’s play area. A thriving Primary school, Post Office and shop and a Public House, The Greyhound. Most people travel to the nearest towns to work, but there are still some businesses operating in the village, including several farms. There are builders, electricians and carpenters, a thatcher, a driving school and a micro brewery producing real ale. Wickhambrook Surgery provides excellent health and welfare care by an outstanding team of caring people. There are many activities available in the village, including the Horticultural Society, Tennis, Football, Petanque and Bowls Clubs and the Wickhambrook Players to name just a few. Visit the Clubs page to find out more about these and all the other clubs in the village.		The Memorial Victorian Post Box
Attleton Green One of our 11 Greens	Wickhambrook is steeped in history and more fascinating information will be added as the website develops. The Local History Society has around 50 members who enjoy talks, often illustrated by slides, on topics of local and historical interest. If you want to find out more about our village then this Society is well worth joining.
Thorns Corner showing the old Blacksmiths Yard	Please also remember that our Suffolk Recorder is recording the events of today so that the history of our village is available for future generations.Our village sign depicts, among other things, the post box dating from 1859 (though no longer in use it is said to be the only one of its kind in the British Isles), a crown representing Princess Anne's visit in 1979, the primary school, the mill and a tree between the pubs representing Justin Brooke's orchards.	Thorns Corner as it was many years ago