Ixworth 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral di ...

district 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 ...

, England, north-east of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

on the A143 road to Diss and south-east of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

. The parish had a population of 2,365 at the 2011 Census.

History

Ixworth was settled by the Romans and was the site of a 1st-century fort.The Willows, Stow Road, Ixworth, Suffolk – Archaeological monitoring and recording
Archaeological Solutions Ltd. June 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2013.Ixworth Roman Fort
English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013. The fort is believed to have been built as a response to

Boudicca Boudica or Boudicca (, from Brythonic * 'victory, win' + * 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as , ) was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed up ...

's revolt and appears to have been in use only until the end of the 1st century. The site measures by and was surrounded by three ditches. After the fort went out of use a civilian settlement was established at the site, possibly with a pottery industry. Ixworth became an important junction in the Roman road system of East AngliaHistory
Ixworth and Ixworth Thorpe parish council. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
The Suffolk Churches Site. and the

Peddars Way The Peddars Way is a long distance footpath that passes through Suffolk and Norfolk, England. Route The Peddars Way is 46 miles (74 km) long and follows the route of a Roman road. It has been suggested by more than one writer that it was ...

ran from Ixworth to

Holme next the Sea Holme-next-the-Sea is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Holme-next-the-Sea is located north-east of Hunstanton and north-west of Norwich. History Holme-next-the-Sea's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives f ...

on the north coast of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

.Peddars Way
English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013. The foundations of a Roman building with

hypocaust A hypocaust () is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors a ...

were discovered in 1834 and are believed to be a villa and bath house complex.Ixowth Roman villa
English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013. An early pagan cemetery with Anglo-Saxon burial urns was discovered south-west of the church some time before 1849,Monument No. 385465
English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013. and a number of other post-Roman archaeological finds have been discovered in the area. In 1856, the Ixworth Cross, a gold

pectoral cross A pectoral cross or pectorale (from the Latin ''pectoralis'', "of the chest") is a Christian cross, cross that is worn on the chest, usually suspended from the neck by a cord or Link chain, chain. In ancient history and the Middle Ages, pector ...

covered in

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

s dating from the 7th century, was discovered in what is believed to be another Anglo-Saxon cemetery.Monument No. 385467
English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Sir John Evans's collections of artefacts – British, Ashmolean Museum. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Anglo-Saxon Discovery, Ashmolean Museum. Retrieved 22 March 2013. The cross is decorated using

cloisonné Cloisonné () is an ancient technology, ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inla ...

work and was donated to the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1909. It was discovered in a rare

bed burial A bed burial is a type of burial in which the deceased person is buried in the ground, lying upon a bed. It is a burial custom that is particularly associated with high-status women during the early Anglo-Saxon period (7th century), although excav ...

.Anglo-Saxon Christian grave find near Cambridge 'extremely rare'
BBC Cambridgeshire news website, 12 March 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-22. The first recorded name for Ixworth is from 1025 as Gyxeweorde meaning "Enclosure of a man called Gisca". It was mentioned again as Gyxeweor∂e in th

charter of 1040 where Thurketel grants the lands to

Bury St Edmunds Abbey The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine Monastery, monasteries in England, until its Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolution in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suff ...

. The settlement was recorded 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 ...

of 1086 as "Icsewrda" or "Giswortha".Ixworth
Domesday Book online. Retrieved 22 January 2013. The village, which was in the Hundred of Blackbourn, was relatively very large at this time with 51 households.Ixworth
Open Domesday. Retrieved 22 January 2013. It was held by Robert Blunt or Blount in 1086, having formed part of the lands controlled by the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds in 1066. Ixworth Priory was founded as an Augustinian priory in about 1170 and dissolved in 1537.Ixworth Priory
English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013. Remains of the priory include the almost complete east range whilst some of the west range can be found incorporated into a house, known as Ixworth Abbey.Ixworth Abbey, Ixworth
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 23 January 2013. These remains are a Grade I listed building and include elements from the early 13th century. Ixworth is the site the earliest rural

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

built in England.1–2, Stow Road, Ixworth
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 23 January 2013. Four pairs of houses were built in 1893–94 for Thingoe Rural District Council, encouraged by the Ixworth Labourers' Association. These were built under the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890, the first to allow rural councils to build their own housing. The act was only adopted by eight councils. The houses exist today in a largely unaltered condition. Two of them, on Stow Road, are Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s. A Q Type bombing decoy was operated in the north-east of the parish to deflect enemy bombing from RAF Honington.Airfield bombing decoy Q28B
English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013 A former pumping station at Bailypool Lane off Stow Lane was given planning permission in 2012 for conversion to a residential dwelling.

Modern Ixworth

Entering Ixworth High Street from the south - geograph

St Mary's Church lies just west of High Street. The church dates from the late 14th century with a late 15th-century tower.Church of St Mary, Ixworth
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 23 January 2013. It contains memorials to Richard Coddington, who was granted the land owned by the priory following the dissolution. The church is a Grade I Listed Building. The village contains a number of other listed buildings, many on the High Street, some of which have medieval elements.Listed Buildings in Ixworth, Suffolk, England
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 23 January 2013. A variety of local services remain in the village, including shops and public houses as well as a village hall, doctor's surgery, a retained fire station and police station sharing the same building.About us
Ixworth and Ixworth Thorpe parish council. Retrieved 23 January 2013.Emergency services join force in Ixworth
, Suffolk County Council, 9 January 2013. Retrieved 2013-01-23. Ixworth is served by rural bus routesBury St Edmunds East
, Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 22 January 2013. and is on the

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

London to

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

coach route. The village was bypassed in 1986 when the A143 was diverted to run to the south-east of the village.

Government

Ixworth is in the West Suffolk district and until April 2019 the St Edmundsbury district and elected one borough councillor.Election results 2011
St Edmundsbury Borough Council. Retrieved 23 January 2013. It lies in the Blackbourn division of

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Governme ...

Joanna Spicer
, Suffolk County Council. Retrieved 23 January 2013. and the

parliamentary constituency. The parish council jointly administers Ixworth and Ixworth Thorpe.Parish Council
Ixworth and Ixworth Thorpe. Retrieved 23 January 2013.

Education

Ixworth Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary Scho

run by the Tilian Partnershi

educates children aged 5 to 11 and its maintained nursery school/class offers places to three to five year olds. At the end of year 6, children can transfer to SET Ixwort

run by Seckford Education Trust

which educates students aged 11 to 16, or Thurston Community Colleg

which educates students aged 11 to 18.

Bangrove Wood SSSI

Bangrove Wood, around north of the village, is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI). This is an area of ancient woodland of .Bangrove Wood
, SSSI citation, Natural England. Retrieved 22 January 2013. The wood contains species such as ash, field maple,

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

and

hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

as well as wild cherry and a range of ground vegetation species.

Notable residents

Thomas Norton Thomas Norton (153210 March 1584) was an English lawyer, politician, writer of verse, and playwright. Official career Norton was born in London, the son of Thomas Norton and the former Elizabeth Merry. He was educated at Cambridge. He became ...

* John Griffiths * John Lamb * Joy Marshall *

Guy Simonds Lieutenant-general (Canada), Lieutenant-General Guy Granville Simonds, (April 23, 1903 – May 15, 1974) was a senior Canadian Army officer who served with distinction during World War II. Acknowledged by many military historians and senior comm ...

* Bertie Stevens * Frederick Nunn

References

^Ixworth Roman villa, English Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2013.

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury