Ampton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

West Suffolk District West Suffolk District is a local government district in Suffolk, England, which was established on 1 April 2019, following the merger of the existing Forest Heath district with the borough of St Edmundsbury. The two councils had already had a ...

of Suffolk, England, about five miles north of Bury St Edmunds. According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is 'Amma's homestead'. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 63, including Little Livermere and

Timworth Timworth is a village and civil parish north east of London and east of Cambridge in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located around two miles north of Bury St Edmunds, its 2005 population was 50. At the 2011 Census ...

, increasing to 171 at the 2011 Census. The parish is grouped with Little Livermere and Timworth to form a parish meeting. Ampton currently has 13 listed structures within it, 12 of them Grade II listed and SS Peter & Paul's church being Grade I listed. At the church hang four bells, with the heaviest weighing 8-1 cwt and dating from 1405.Dove's Guide
Retrieved 2012-03-21. Most of the village was designated as a conservation area on 5 March 1987. The village's racecourse hosts the South Suffolk Show, an annual one-day agricultural show which was first organised in 1888. Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy FRS, the scientist who achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS ''Beagle'' during

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

's famous voyage, was born in the village. He also coined the phrase ‘Weather Forecast’ when he founded the predecessor to the

Meteorological Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope ...

History

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 records the population of Ampton in 1086 to be 23 households. The parish was part of

Thedwastre Hundred Thedwastre (also Thedwestry) was a hundred of the county of Suffolk, England covering an area of . It formed part of the Liberty of Saint Edmund, under the jurisdiction of the abbots of Bury St Edmunds. The hundred is about twelve miles (19&n ...

Historial writings

In 1870–1872,

John Marius Wilson John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical index or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains informati ...

's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the village as: In 1887,

John Bartholomew John Bartholomew (25 December 1831 – 29 March 1893) was a Scottish cartographer. Life Bartholomew was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, John Bartholomew Sr., started a cartographical establishment in Edinburgh, and he was educated ...

also wrote an entry on Ampton in the Gazetteer of the British Isles with a much shorter description:

Ampton Hall

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Jacobean style The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign ther ...

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

built in 1892 on the site of the previous hall. The main residence of the Ampton estate which owns 700 acre park and a large majority of the housing the in the area.

Ampton Charities

School

Ampton Charity School Trust was established by James Calthorpe (1649–1702) in 1692 for the education of six poor boys of Ampton and the neighbouring parishes. The Old School House, dated 1705, is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

a bears a plaque commemorating its principal benefactor in a Latin inscription. By 1844 the school was part of the National Schools system.

Almshouses

In her will dated 18 May 1693 Dorothy Calthorpe left £1,000 for the construction of almshouses in the village for "six poor old widows or old maids"Michelle M. Dowd & Julie A. Eckerle (2011) The Devotional Writings of Dorothy Calthorpe, ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 24:1-2, 89-98, DOI: 10.1080/0895769X.2011.540539

Notable residents

* James Calthorpe (until 1658),

Roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county ...

. * Dorothy Calthorpe (1648-1693), early female author * Algernon May (until 1704),

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

. *

Reynolds Calthorpe Reynolds Calthorpe of Elvetham in Hampshire (12 August 1655 in Ampton – 1719) was a Whig Member of Parliament for Hindon. He was the third and youngest son of Sir James Calthorpe (died 1658) and Dorothy Reynolds, second daughter of Sir Jame ...

(1655–1719),

for Hindon. * James Calthorpe (1699–1784), politician and courtier, Gentleman Usher Quarterly Waiter in Ordinary, Yeoman of the Removing Wardrobe, and

for Hindon. * Henry Venn Elliott (1792–1865), an English

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

. *

Henry George Boldero Henry George Boldero (1794–1873) was a British Army officer and a Tory Member of Parliament for Chippenham. The second son of the Rev. John Boldero (died 1796), rector of Ampton, Suffolk, by his marriage to Mary Ann Sibbs of Blakeney, Norfol ...

(1794–1873),

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and a

for Chippenham. *

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

(1805–1865), English officer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, pioneering

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

and founder of the Met Office, captain of HMS ''Beagle'' during

's famous voyage. * Henry Cotterill (1812–1886),

Bishop of Grahamstown The Bishop of Grahamstown is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Grahamstown in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The Bishop's residence is Bishopsbourne, Grahamstown List of Bishops of Grahamstown Diocesan bishops # John Armstrong, D ...

and

Bishop of Edinburgh The Bishop of Edinburgh, or sometimes the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh. Prior to the Reformation, Edinburgh was part of the Diocese of St Andrews, under the Archbishop of St Andrews ...

in the 1800s. * Pierce Lacy (1872–1956),

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

stockbroker, chairman of the Birmingham Stock Exchange.

References

External links

* * * Historical Social Data on Ampto

Villages in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury Civil parishes in Suffolk Thedwastre Hundred {{Suffolk-geo-stub