Cretingham

Cretingham is a village and a civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk. It is on the River Deben, 2 miles south off the A1120 road. It is four miles west from Framlingham and eight miles northwest from Woodbridge.

Cretingham

St Peter's church
Cretingham
Location within Suffolk
Population196 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceTM2260
Civil parish
  • Cretingham
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWOODBRIDGE
Postcode districtIP13
Dialling code01728
UK Parliament

Description

It is based on a crossroads formed by The Street (north-south) and Framsden Road (west) and Brandeston Road (east) and has a church, a pub and a golf course (to the northeast of the village).

The church of St Peter is half the way up the north part of The Street. It dates from c.1300 and is a grade II* listed building.[2] The old Bell Inn is now a dwelling called Dial House. The new Cretingham Bell pub opened in 1967 located at the crossroads. It dates from 1620s and was formerly four cottages.

Several farms lie in the area:

  • Bungalow Farm in the southwest
  • Corner Farm in the southeast
  • Duck's Farm to the west
  • Rookery Farm and Manor Farm to the north

History

The village’s name means The people of a gravelly village being derived from the Old English word grēot meaning gravel.[3]

In 1086 it was described as "Gretingeham" or "Gretingaham" in the Domesday Book and located in the old Hundred of Loes. The population was recorded as 78 households along with 30 acres of meadow, wood for 20 pigs, 4 cobs, 7 cattle, 40 pigs, 64 sheep, 32 goats, 4 beehives, and 1 mill.[4]

There are 21 listed buildings in the parish including the grade II* listed church of St Peter.[5]

Six bells are hung in the tower for change ringing with the heaviest weighing 7 cwt-2qr-23lb, and the oldest dating from about 1416 cast by Richard Baxter of Norwich, the tower is affiliated to the Suffolk Guild of Ringers. The bells were rehung and augmented to six with a new bell cast by John Taylor & Co in 2017.[6] [7] The first peal was rung on the bells on 30 Apr 1883; up to 2019 29 peals had been rung at Cretingham.[8]

During renovation work on a hunting lodge near Aldeburgh in 1996, a carpenter uncovered a plank of wood revealing a chilling pencilled message: "A fearful murder was committed the first day of this month (October 1887) at Cretingham. A curate cut the vicar's throat at 12 o'clock at night." Sheila Hardy[9] wrote a book about it called The Cretingham Murder.[10]

Cretingham Primary School closed in the early 1960s (Miss Last being the final teacher).

References
  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  2. Historic England. "CHURCH OF ST PETER (1030322)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  3. "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  4. "Cretingham | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  5. "Listed Buildings in Cretingham, Suffolk Coastal, Suffolk". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  6. "Dove Details". dove.cccbr.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  7. "The Suffolk Guild of Ringers, Cretingham". www.suffolkbells.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  8. "Felstead Database". cccbr.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  9. Sheila Hardy
  10. The Cretingham Murder (ISBN 9780752448954)
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