Population 302 (2011) Region East Sovereign state United Kingdom Shire county Suffolk Dialling code 01473 | OS grid reference TM231489 Country England Post town Woodbridge District Suffolk Coastal | |
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UK parliament constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich | ||
Great Bealings is a small village in Suffolk, England. It has about 302 people living in it in around 113 households. Its nearest towns are Ipswich (6 miles (9.7 km) away) and Woodbridge (2.6 miles (4.2 km)). Nearby villages include Little Bealings, Playford, Culpho, Hasketon and Grundisburgh. The village does not have an obvious centre, and the population is split between two areas — one around Lower Street to the East of the village, and the other at Boot Street/Grundisburgh Road to the West of the village. St Mary's, the village church, is about in the middle of these two centres of population.
Contents
Map of Great Bealings, Woodbridge, UK
The village shares a playing field with Little Bealings, which is located behind the joint Village Hall, and includes a grassed plateau, a fenced and hard surfaced multi-sports court, children's play equipment, and a boules piste. It is named after John Ganzoni, Lord Belstead, who lived in the village for many years, and whose Charitable Trust Fund supported the project.
The River Lark passes through the middle of the village, and is crossed by the main road with a hump back bridge.
History
Although there has been plenty of evidence of Roman occupation and they were known to navigate up to Clopton, the village name is believed to be of Saxon origin (meaning "the area where the Beda or Bele people lived.") The village was known as Belinges Magna until 1674 when the current spelling appeared, although Magna remained until much more recently.
In the Domesday Book there is mention of the Saxon Hall, owned by Halden, with Anund the priest in attendance. This was on the meadow by the church and was owned by several families such as the de Peche, Clench, and Majors, who knocked it down in 1775 to use the material to aid the construction of Bealings House.
The village has always had a strong agricultural base with several small farms. In White’s gazetteer of Suffolk in 1855, the listed tradesmen are: brickmaker, two boot makers, builder, wheelwright, blacksmith, gardener, shopkeeper, and miller as well as several farmers and gentlemen. The hump back bridge was built in 1841 and the village has had at least two pubs: the Boot, and the Live and Let Live, both in Lower Street. It is thought that two windmills existed in the village during the 1800s.
Notable residents
The Seckford family had been landowners in the time of Edward I, with local benefactor Thomas Seckford rebuilding Seckford hall as the country residence in 1530. He was a close advisor to Elizabeth I. His parents are buried in Great Bealings Church.
Admiral Pelham Aldrich, who was Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Docks and attended several surveying expeditions around the world, was a resident and is buried in the churchyard.
Another resident was Major Edward Moor. He served in India, being wounded three times. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and an author on Indian mythology. He brought the stone obelisk to Bealings House and wrote the mystery, Bealings Bells, published in 1841, about an apparently haunted system of bell-pulls.
Winifred Beech, the author and wife of Sir John Fortescue, was born in Great Bealings rectory, the daughter of Rector Howard Beech, in 1888.
Charles Frederick Oldham, a retired brigade surgeon of the Bengal Medical Service and a well known researcher into the history of religions died at Great Bealings on 25 March 1913.
Rectors of the Parish
Plaques in the church list the following Rectors: