Haughley
Haughley is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The village is located northwest of the town of Stowmarket, overlooking the Gipping valley, next to the A14 corridor. The population recorded in 2011 was 1,638. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, it was the site of a castle, a church on the pilgrim's route to Bury St Edmunds Abbey, and a market. Adjacent farms on the north side of the village were also home to one of the first studies of organic farming and the first headquarters of the Soil Association.
History
The village has evidence of Neolithic, pagan, Iron Age, Roman and Saxon settlements and was first mentioned in the will of Leofgifu, a Saxon noblewoman, in 1040. Leofgifu bequeathed Haughley to her only daughter who may eventually have become the wife of Guthmund, the holder of Haughley in 1066. Haughley is mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as Hagala being held by Hugh de Montfort, having formerly been held by the Saxon lord Guthmund for Edward.A medieval market town and site of a royal fortress, Haughley prospered till the Tudor period then went into decline further compounded by a fire started on 11 April 1709 at which it is said “like a phoenix Stowmarket rose from its ashes”.
The parish anciently divided into the four divisions of Haughley Green, Old Street, New Street and Tothill. The original of Haughley Green, north of the main village, were enclosed in 1854, after being bisected by the railway from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds which opened in 1846.
Through the Victorian period to the present day the village has grown and was connected to water and sewerage with the addition of local authority housing at the instigation of the infamous and controversial Rev Walter Grainge White in the 1920s following the description of Haughley and its open sewers by the Daily Mail in 1928 as “the fever pit of the kingdom”.
In 2022, to commemorate Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, a beacon was erected on the former Market Place and Village Green, attended by over one thousand people.
Buildings
Castle
Haughley Castle is considered one of the best-preserved motte and bailey earthworks in Suffolk. The castle was built by Hugh de Montfort following the conquest of 1066 over the previous footprint of the fortified hall of the Saxon lord Guthmund, killed at the Battle of Hastings.King Henry II entrusted the castle to Ranulf de Broc. In the Revolt of 1173–74 by Henry II's sons against their father, Robert de Beaumont, the Earl of Leicester, captured the castle for the rebels and demolished it in October 1173, following a short and fierce battle, by smoking the occupants out of the keep by piling brushwood against the building. The dead were buried in a mass grave to the east of the castle site. However it was subsequently partially rebuilt, and was granted by Richard I to his niece Matilda of Saxony who had married Geoffrey of Perche in 1189. King Edward II spent some days at Haughley in January 1326 during a journey to Bury St Edmunds, South Elmham and Norwich. During the later 1300s it was occupied by Robert d'Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk before falling into disuse in the 15th century when the De La Poles built Wingfield Castle. Haughley Park mansion was built in the early 17th century in what was then royal hunting park of the Castle.
The castle motte is wide at the base and tall. The bailey is rectangular, by across, with the entrance on the west side. The outer bailey exists in earthworks around the village called The Folly which are part of the prehistoric and Iron Age statements of the village. During an archaeological investigation in October 2010-March 2011 and February–April 2012, carved stone and other masonry were recovered from the Keep. Three Cedar of Lebanon trees now sit atop the keep forming a landmark. In 2023 the village commemorated the 850th anniversary of the four-day siege with a Medieval Fair, Pageant and Beacon Lighting; events will culminate with a book launch and medieval banquet in October 2023.
Church
Haughley Parish Church is an example of an early English medieval Church on the site of a Saxon and Norman chapel mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is dedicated to the "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" and a fair was held annually in August to celebrate this until its abolition in 1871. The tower was built in the early 13th century by Richard Earl of Cornwall with rest being remodelled in the 14th century by the Ufford family. The first recorded priest was an Italian, John de Monte Luelli, in the early 13th century. The church was endowed to Hailes Abbey by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and "King of the Romans" in thanks to God for his survival at sea. Prior to the reformation the church was on the "Pilgrims Way" to the Shrine of St Edmund at Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Visitors would worship at the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Haughley, which contained a piece of the true cross of Christ, in return for a papal remission of their sins. It remained under the patronage of Hailes Abbey until 1537 and the Dissolution of the Monasteries.The church contains many memorials and hatchments to the Ray, Crawford, Smythe and Ward families as well as remains of medieval stained glass and a fine carved roof. The south tower contains five bells dating back to the medieval period. The most recent church clock was erected in 1903, a gift of the Bevan family. Previous clocks had been erected from 1697 onwards replacing a public sundial removed by the Woods family. The flagpole on the church tower was erected and gifted by the Palmer family in 2002 to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
There is currently no vicar following the resignation of Rev Paul Clarke due to ill health. A United Reformed Church chapel formerly worshipped regularly in the village and now works closely with the Church of England in Haughley.
Other prominent buildings
In and around Haughley are many thatched, painted and listed buildings; these include:- Haughley Park mansion, built in the 17th century for the Sulyard family following service to Queen Mary I. After a devastating fire in 1961 during its restoration, it has been the home of the Williams family since the mid 1960s. The Barn and grounds are used for conferences and weddings.
- Antrim House and the Old Counting House, dating back to the 14th century. It is described as “the stall” within its deeds and contains a rare triple arched medieval shop front. The part of the building containing the restaurant was the general store for 300 years until the early 1980s before conversion to a restaurant.
- Chilton and Mulbra House, formerly the Guildhall with an impressive queen post roof and a painting of St Blaise
- Dial Farmhouse has a carved porch believed to be from the village of Mendlesham depicting deer and Tudor roses
- New Bells Farmhouse, a Tudor moated farm and possibly once a Dane settlement. The farm was also one of the sites used in the organic farming study, the Haughley Experiment, from 1939. Nearby Walnut Tree Manor was from 1946 to 1985 headquarters of the Soil Association.
- The White House known locally as “The Ark” overlooking the village green, formerly Crown Hall, was built in 1527 by charter of Henry VIII for Roger Bell, a close friend of the King and "Yeoman of the Keeper of the Kings Cellar". It is reputed that the house was built from smuggled sales of wool out of England and silks into England. The grounds with its orchards and residence are within the site of the outer bailey of Haughley Castle and of the original Iron Age and Prehistoric settlements of the village. The front was remodelled in the Georgian style in the 1850s and it was prior to that it was the home of John Ebden, a surgeon and veteran of the American War of Independence, and of the Rev Samuel Christmas Browne, author of Trinity College, Dublin when it was known as the Gipping & Shelland Parsonage whose advowson was in the gift of the Tyrell family until 1892. Prior to this it was known as the Crown Inn when the Hall fell out of favour. The Maltings within the grounds were sold to become a Village Hall in 1907. Since then it has been the residence of the Palmer family for the past seven generations and whom have been resident in Haughley since Tudor times and who are Lords of the Manor of Eye and Constable of Eye Castle. From 1973 to 1990 the property housed a Bakery & Village Museum, one of three in Europe, founded by Roy Palmer. Open for local groups, fetes and charities the museum closed in 1990 and the Palmer Family Trust became the current repository and archive for Haughley village history. The grounds are open from time to time to raise funds for local charities.
- Plashwood House, situated on the old hunting grounds of Haughley Castle, was built in 1901 and has been the residence of the Bevan family since 1907. The previous house - home of the Ray and Tyrrell families - burned down. The garden cottage is a remnant of this original building.
Public houses, businesses and other facilities
The village post office is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom in continuous use, opening in 1848, with Jasper Pritty its first postmaster. He was succeeded by Alfred Woods then the Edwards family. Additionally the village has a veterinary surgeons, a Co-op store, hairdressers, second-hand furniture shop and an Indian restaurant. A butchers, newsagents, electrical store, greengrocers, general store and fish and chip shop closed after many years in the 1990s.
Haughley Crawford's Primary School is situated adjacent to the church. In the 1950s a RAF Meteor jet fighter crash landed in the field beyond the school, killing the pilot Peter Phillips - believed to have sacrificed his life to save the children of the school from a direct hit. Hillcroft Preparatory School, an independent school, was located at Walnut Tree Manor in Haughley Green from 1911 until 2007, when it merged with the Finborough School.