Bawdsey, Suffolk

Historical Description

Bawdsey, a village and a parish in Suffolk. The village stands near the mouth of the Deben river, on the sea coast, 10 miles SSE of Woodbridge, and 9 SE from Melton station on the G.E.R. It has a post office under Woodbridge; money order office, Alderton; telegraph office, Melton. It was once a market town. The parish comprises 1630 acres of land, and 271 of water; population, 461. Bawdsey Haven, in the mouth of the Deben, gives shelter to small craft, and there is a ferry across the river (4 miles) to Felixstowe. Bawdsey Manor, a fine new mansion, is on the coast. Bawdsey Sand is a shoal, about 5 miles distant, 4 miles long and ½ of a mile broad, with 10 feet and upwards of water. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich; net value, £126 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is a small, neat, recent structure, and was preceded by a fine early Saxon edifice, the reduced tower of which, now 60 feet high, still stands. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a reading room.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Bawdsey from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bawdsey (St. Mary))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Suffolk is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Bawdsey are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Suffolk papers online:

• The Ipswich Journal
• East Suffolk Mercury and Lowestoft Weekly News
• Bury and Norwich Post
• Bury Free Press