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Whatfield

Whatfield
Whatfield village sign - geograph.org.uk - 588434.jpg
Village sign
Whatfield is located in Suffolk
Whatfield
Whatfield
Whatfield shown within Suffolk
Population 335 (2011)
OS grid reference TM025464
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Ipswich
Postcode district IP7
Police Suffolk
Fire Suffolk
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
List of places
UK
England
Suffolk
52°04′44″N 0°57′14″E / 52.079°N 0.954°E / 52.079; 0.954Coordinates: 52°04′44″N 0°57′14″E / 52.079°N 0.954°E / 52.079; 0.954

Whatfield is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Located around 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Hadleigh, it is part of Babergh district.

Skeat, in his 1913 The Place-Names of Suffolk, says this:

Spelt Whatefield, Ipm.; Quaterfield, H.R (with qu for wh); Gawatfelda, D.B. p.23. A.S. form Hwaete-feld; meaning "wheat field." Though A.S. has not this precise compound on record, we find hwaeteland, "wheat-land" and feld as a suffix. Whatfield was sometimes called Wheatfield (see The Beauties of England). "This Town is chiefly remarkable for growing the most excellent Seed-Wheat"; Kirby.

The Calves Wood, a County Wildlife Site (CWS) in the north of the parish, is classed as ancient woodland, whilst the parish's south-western border is delineated by the River Brett. The parish council holds two meadows and a piece of rough woodland in trust for the villagers. The woodland is on the left-hand side of a pleasant walk down to the river.

The first meadow, known as Buckle's Meadow, or Buckledees Meadow by some older parishioners, was purchased in the 1960s with money raised in the village and a grant. Access to the site, which is a county wildlife site, is by public footpath from Rectory Road.

The second meadow, also accessible by public footpath, is Hunty's Vale and was the kind gift to the village by the sisters Edith and Francis Vale who were parishioners. A programme of conservation is on-going to maintain and improve the area for plants, animals and birds as well as being a pleasant place to walk.

The village was awarded the title Suffolk Village of the Year 2014 in a competition organised by the Suffolk Association of Local Councils, Radio Suffolk, East Anglian Daily Times and Network Power, to acknowledge the community spirit amongst the residents of this small village and how Whatfield CEVCP School integrates with the village.

The parish church of St Margaret a small church, dating from the 13th and 14th century, now faced in stucco. It has a plain west tower with a later-added pyramid tiled roof. The nave and chancel roofs are also tiled. The south porch dates from the 16th century and is of red brick, with a stopped gable on the front. The interior has a fine king post roof with brackets, moulded shafts and capitals. There are some pews dating from the 16th and 17th century on the north side, one with the date 1589. The communion rail and west gallery, which had turned balusters, are probably early C18th-century. The pulpit, which has a tester, is 16th- or 17th-century. The church has been a Grade I listed building since 23 January 1958.


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