Cretingham is a village and a civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. It is on the

River Deben The River Deben is a river in Suffolk rising to the west of Debenham, though a second, higher source runs south from the parish of Bedingfield. The river passes through Woodbridge, turning into a tidal estuary before entering the North Sea at ...

, 2 miles south off the

A1120 road The A1120 is an 'A' road in the English county of Suffolk. It links Stowmarket to Yoxford passing through the centre of the county.Clark.R (2003The long and winding road ''The Telegraph'', 2003-04-12. Retrieved 2011-04-05. It is long. Route F ...

. It is four miles west from

Framlingham Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book and was part of Loes Hundred. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 census and an estimated 4,016 in 20 ...

and eight miles northwest from

Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland'' *Woodbridge, Tasmania Canada *Woodbridge, Ontario England *Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of **Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...

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Description

It is based on a crossroads formed by The Street (north-south) and

Framsden Framsden is a village and civil parish located around north of Ipswich and south of the small market town of Debenham in the English county of Suffolk. The total population of Framsden in the census of 2001 was 299, with 125 households, 52 p ...

Road (west) and

Brandeston Brandeston is a village in Suffolk, England on the River Deben northeast of Ipswich. Brandeston is west of Kettleburgh and northwest of Hoo Green. It is a Parish in Plomesgate district and 3½ miles SW of Framlingham r. station." History Bra ...

Road (east) and has a church, a pub and a golf course (to the northeast of the village). The church of St Peter is half the way up the north part of The Street. It dates from c.1300 and is a grade II* listed building. The old Bell Inn is now a dwelling called Dial House. The new Cretingham Bell pub opened in 1967 located at the crossroads. It dates from 1620s and was formerly four cottages. Several farms lie in the area: *Bungalow Farm in the southwest *Corner Farm in the southeast *Duck's Farm to the west *Rookery Farm and Manor Farm to the north

History

The village's name means ''The people of a gravelly village'' being derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

word ''grēot'' meaning gravel. In 1086 it was described as "Gretingeham" or "Gretingaham" in 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

and located in the old Hundred of

Loes Loes may refer to: Places *Loes Hundred, a Suffolk county division *Loes River, a river in East Timor Given name A Dutch feminine given name (pronounced ), a short form of Louise.