Melton, Suffolk
Historical Description
Melton, a large village and a parish in Suffolk. The village stands on the river Deben, adjacent to the Ipswich and Lowestoft section of the G.E.R., 1½ mile NE of Woodbridge; has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Wood bridge, a station on the railway, an iron-foundry and machine-works, and formerly had fairs on the second Tuesday of Sept. and the second Wednesday after Michaelmas. It carries on a fair trade in corn, coals, and other things on the river. The parish comprises 1417 acres; population of the civil parish, 1510; of the ecclesiastical, 1536. The-manor belongs to the Dean and Chapter of Ely. There are several good mansions in this parish, among which are Melton Grange, Melton Hall, Melton Lodge, The Towers, Fern Hill, Foxborough Hall, Greylands, and the Hermitage. The county lunatic asylum stands about a mile N of the village; was originally a house of industry for the hundreds of Wilford and Loes; was purchased in 1827 for the reception of pauper lunatics; and was greatly enlarged and improved in 1886. There are clay and sand pits, and brickworks. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich; net value, £221 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Ely. The new church stands in the centre of the village; was built in 1868; and is a fine building of Kentish ragstone in the Decorated English style, with tower and spire 100 feet high. The old church stands at a distance from the village, contains a triple-canopied brass of 1430, and has been converted into a cemetery chapel. There is a small Primitive Methodist chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Suffolk | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Melton St. Andrew | |
Hundred | Wilford | |
Poor Law union | Woodbridge |
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 Melton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Melton (St. Andrew))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Suffolk is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Melton 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: