Saxmundham, Suffolk

Historical Description

Saxmundham, a small market-town and a parish in Suffolk. The town stands between two hills, on a rivulet running into the Alde, and on the G.E.R., on which it has a station at the junction of the branch to Aldborough, 22½ miles NE of Ipswich, and 89 from London. It consists chiefly of one street running N and S, is well built, and has been much improved. The town is the head of a county court district and a seat of petty sessions, and has a weekly market for grain which is held on Wednesday. There are also repository sales for cattle every alternate Wednesday. Fairs were formerly held on Whit-Tuesday and on the 23 September, but these have become obsolete. There are a head post office, three banks, and a chief hotel. A reading-room was established in 1877, and a fire-brigade station in 1875. Acreage of the parish, 1107; population, 1371. There is a parish council which consists of thirteen members. The manor belongs to the Long family. Hurts Hall, their seat, was originally erected in the 15th century, but the old building was entirely destroyed by fire in 1890. The present building is a mansion in the Elizabethan style, standing in a park of about 200 acres at the S end of the town. The church, which stands on a hill on the SE side of the town, is a building of flint in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and an embattled western tower. It has some fine tombs, a reredos of stone, and several stained windows. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich; net value, £173 with residence. There are Baptist and Congregational chapels, meeting-places for the Wesleyans and for members of the Salvation Army, and some small charities.

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 Saxmundham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Saxmundham (St. John the Baptist))

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Saxmundham 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