Bildeston
| Bildeston | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Church, Bildeston |
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 Bildeston
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| Bildeston shown within Suffolk | |
| Population | 1,054 (2011) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | IPSWICH |
| Postcode district | IP7 |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
Bildeston is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. Located around 5 miles (8 km) north of Hadleigh, in 2005 it had a population of 960, increasing to 1,054 at the 2011 Census.
According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is Bild's homestead.
According to 'Bildeston Church and Village' by Sue Andrews, the village came into existence around 1,100 years ago. Although two Roman roads crossed here, little evidence has been found of any Roman settlement, only of Bildr, supposedly, seven centuries later, as an invading Danish leader, whose name the first settlement is thought to have adapted.
The first real evidence of Bildeston is in the Domesday Book. The manor had been a royal estate of Queen Edith, consort of Edward the Confessor. By 1086 there were 20 households, composed of villeins, bordars and serfs, all dependent on Walter the Deacon, the absentee Lord of the Manor. Three plough teams belonged to the villagers, three to the lord and another to the priest, whose church was presumably where St Mary Magdalene’s is today. One hundred years later the church was said to have been re-built by Lady Helewise de Gwerres, whose family, the Loveynes, later became the lords of the Manor.
Despite mythology explaining the move of the village down to the Brett valley as being caused by the Black Death of 1349, Matthew de Loveyne, then lord of the manor, was granted a charter for a market on the Stowmarket to Hadleigh Road in 1264. The move was to be more gradual and possibly more to do with easily accessible water. When the Revett family took over the manor in 1603 only the manor house and the church remained on the comparatively bleak hill, although houses on the road to the church were shown on early 19th century maps.
Bildeston became famous for blue broadcloth and buildings housing dyers, weavers, shearmen, spinners and clothiers were erected to form Chapel Street and Duke Street during the 15th and 16th centuries. Also constructed was a wool hall where the commerce of the wool trade was conducted. It is very similar to the one that can be seen restored to its original form as part of the Swan Hotel in nearby Lavenham. The Bildeston Hall still survives but is now split into two private residences on the corner of High Street and Ipswich Road. Early enclosure of agricultural land had created a landless population for enterprising landlords to profit by. But by the reign of Queen Mary (1553–58) scarcity and high prices lead to reports 'whereby this town of Bilstone hath decayed'.
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Wikipedia