| Fressingfield | |
Freshingfield Village Sign |
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Fressingfield
Fressingfield shown within Suffolk |
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| OS grid reference | TM247776 |
|---|---|
| District | Mid Suffolk |
| Shire county | Suffolk |
| Region | East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | EYE |
| Postcode district | IP21 |
| Dialling code | 01379 |
| Police | Suffolk |
| Fire | Suffolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | Central Suffolk and North Ipswich |
| List of places: UK • England • Suffolk | |
Fressingfield is a small village in Suffolk, England, 12 miles (19 km) east of Diss, Norfolk. It has a population of over 900, with two shops (Fressingfield Stores and The Pottery) a medical centre and three churches, with Anglican, Baptist and Methodist congregations. Fressingfield once had five public houses. Today it has only the Swan Inn, open Tuesdays to Sundays, and The Fox and Goose restaurant, situated in what was formerly the Elizabethan Guildhall. A vineyard is also located here producing Oak Hill Wines which have received many awards.
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Fressingfield contains 4,618 acres (18.69 km2). It is one of Suffolk’s largest parishes - only fifteen, out of more than five hundred, being larger. A population peak was reached in 1851 when the census recorded 1,491: five hundred more than at present.
To celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, a well was sunk at the junction of the Stradbroke and Laxfield Roads. For sixty years, until provision of a mains supply, the 'Jubilee Pump' together with the 'Low Pump' (which still exists) supplied the central area of the parish with its water requirements. The 1953 Coronation Celebrations Committee chose the site to erect a village sign depicting a pilgrim and his pack mule. The sign reflects the parish's association with the pilgrimage to Bury St Edmunds which commenced during the late Saxon period. In 2002, to mark Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, a new sign was commissioned, the old one having been given to the school.
William Sancroft was born at Ufford Hall on 30 January 1617. He became Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in 1664, assisting with the rebuilding after the Great Fire. From 1678 he was Archbishop of Canterbury, crowning James II in 1685. Following the Revolution of 1688, having already given allegiance to James, he felt unable to swear a new oath to William and Mary and was deposed as Archbishop in 1690, returning to Ufford Hall where he died on 24 November 1693. Sancroft made financial provision for the spiritual, education and administrative care of Fressingfield: in his arrangements the Vicar, a Village Schoolmaster and the Parish Clerk.
The fifteen mile (24 km) long Pulham St Mary to Peasenhall Roman Road passes through the parish of Fressingfield. Its route is recognisable as the present B1116 passing through Weybread (Weybread Straight) until it reaches Gooch's Farm, where a Saxon diversion takes traffic into Fressingfield.