East Bergholt
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East Bergholt is a village in the south of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. It is "twinned" with the village of Barbizon, France.
East Bergholt and Hadleigh are the largest villages in the Stour Valley, a region historically known for its manufacture of linens. The nearest town and railway station, a few miles away, is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is situated 10 miles north of Colchester and 8 miles south of Ipswich.
During the 16th century, its inhabitants became well-known for Protestant radicalism. A few of its citizens were martyred during the reign of Queen Mary I, and the Protestant martyrologist John Foxe recorded their stories in his famous work Acts and Monuments (also known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs).
East Bergholt is the birthplace of the painter John Constable.
[edit] St. Mary's Church and its famous bellcage
The Church of St. Mary the Virgin was built in the 15th and 16th centuries, but is well known for the absence of a tower or spire to house the bells. Work had begun on a tower in 1525, but Cardinal Wolsey's fall from grace in 1530 brought construction to a halt, and the following year a temporary wooden bellcage was erected in the churchyard for the bells. However, this temporary structure still exists some 500 years or so later.
[edit] Other important buildings
As well as the church, the following buildings are also to be found in East Bergholt:
- Old Hall (a former nunnery, later friary, which now houses the Old Hall Community, a single household of about 60 people who are drawn together by their desire to live co-operatively and farm organically)
- Stour House (once home to Randolph Churchill)
- East Bergholt Place (home of the Eley family and "The Place for Plants garden" centre)
- Lambe School (the former schoolrooms now used for public and private functions)
[edit] External links
