Martlesham is a village in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

, England about two miles (3 km) South-West of Woodbridge and East of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. It is often referred to as "old Martlesham" by locals in order to distinguish this old village from the much more recent Martlesham Heath development (1 km) to the south although both form a single administrative parish. Also at Martlesham Heath is BT's Research and Development Centre, now called Adastral Park. Martlesham was recorded in

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 manusc ...

as ''Merlesham''. The history and meaning of the name are studied in a paper by Briggs. It probably means 'settlement (''hām'') near the mooring-place (''mǣrels'')'.

History of Martlesham

It is believed that there was a Roman settlement at Martlesham and in the parish there have been some 26 finds dating from the Roman occupation. These include

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and po ...

, brooches,

coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

and

tessera A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus. Historical tesserae The oldest known tessera ...

e. Of particular note was the 19th century find of a small bronze statue of a horse on a plinth, bearing a Latin inscription indicating that this was an offering dedicated by a woman named Simplicia to the god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

. Martlesham was mentioned in the

, which recorded that it consisted of two and a half carucates of land (equivalent to about of profitable land). At that time there were 10 villagers; 10 smallholders; of meadow; 1 mill; woodland for 16 pigs; 5 cobs; 20 cattle; 27 pigs; 212 sheep; and 12 beehives. There was 1 church with and 1 free man. Martlesham remained a strongly agricultural area, but the main settlement shifted over the years from the highest ground (where the church and hall are situated) to the point where the main London to Great Yarmouth road crosses the River Finn , a tributary to the Deben. By the mid-15th century, a bridge had been built across the river at this point. White's 1844 directory of Suffolk describes Martlesham as "a neat village near the confluence of a rivulet with the Deben" and states that it has in its parish "510 inhabitants, and of land, partly in rich marshes washed by the tides of the Deben, and partly a large, sandy, and unenclosed heath, extending about S.W., and affording pasturage for numerous herds of sheep and cattle." In 1917, the Experimental Aircraft Flight of the Central Flying School was transferred from Upavon,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

to a site on the heathland at Martlesham and, on 16 January 1917, Martlesham Heath Airfield was officially opened as an experimental airfield. It continued in this role after the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and became a significant RAF airfield during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Douglas Bader was briefly stationed at the RAF station in 1940, and a public house "The Douglas Bader" now resides on Martlesham Heath. After the closure of the airfield, the lease of its site was sold to Bradford Property Trust, who went on to develop the "New Village" of Martlesham Heath to the southwest of "Old Martlesham".

Martlesham now

Martlesham Main Road sweeps, from the A12 roundabout turn off, north-east. Population of over 5600. The headquarters of the Suffolk Constabulary is based in Martlesham, on the south side of the A12/A1214 roundabout. The Martlesham site of the Ipswich park and ride service opened in December 2003. There are two pubs, Black Tiles (south part of Main Road) and the Red Lion, which was located on the old Norwich to London road. This coaching inn was used as an overnight stopover for the Royal Mail with the post being safely locked up until the morning. The figurehead was a well-known landmark with "Red as the Martlesham Lion" being a common expression in the area. The original figure is still outside the pub today. Parts of the building date from the late 16th century, with an early 19th-century wing to the north. A Victorian brewery was also located here. Martlesham Creek is popular for sailing pursuits. The mouth of which forms the confluence of rivers Fynn and Deben. School Lane marks where the former schoolhouse stood together with plenty of open fields with a view to the creek. Church Lane and its surrounding area has been used for Christian worship since at least 1086. The Church of St Mary the Virgin (built 15th century) is down a single track lane at the north east of Martlesham, with fields to the south and woodland to the north. There are many footpaths in the area and a path down to Martlesham Creek crosses through the churchyard. The church has a pulpit dating from 1641 and a 15th-century font by the entrance door.

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,897.

References

Bibliography

* John Morris (Editor): ''Domesday Book – Suffolk (Part Two)'', Phillimore, 1986. * William White: ''History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Suffolk'', 1844 * Gordon Kinsey: ''Martlesham Heath'', Terence Dalton Ltd, 1975. * Paul Firman: ''Martlesham – The Good and Bad Old Days'', The Martlesham Monthly,

External links

Martlesham Portal Community websiteMartlesham Parish Council websiteMartlesham Parish Church website
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk