Mendlesham is a village in

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 ...

with 1,407 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It lies north east of

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

and from London. The place-name 'Mendlesham' is first attested 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, where it appears as ''Melnesham'' and ''Mundlesham''. The name means 'Myndel's village'. Mendlesham is known for its large street fair which is held on every May Day bank holiday. Mendlesham has a popular community newsletter, and a goo
primary school
There is one

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

in the village called 'The King's Head'. The village has a

fish and chip shop A fish and chip shop, sometimes referred to as a chip shop or chippy, is a restaurant that specialises in selling fish and chips. Usually, fish and chip shops provide takeaway service, although some have seating facilities. Fish and chip shop ...

and Mendlesham Bakery, a '

Premier Stores Premier is a symbol group in the United Kingdom established in 1994, with over 3,000 stores nationwide. Tesco took ownership of the brand in 2018 after its purchase of Booker Group. Premier stores are generally convenience shops, stocking brand ...

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

with a

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

counter.. Nearby at is the

Mendlesham transmitting station The Mendlesham transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated close to the village of Mendlesham, near the town of Stowmarket, in Suffolk, United Kingdom (). It is owned and operated by Arqiva. It has a high ...

which broadcasts

Kiss 105-108 Kiss 105-108 was an Independent Local Radio station serving East Anglia from the Kiss Network. All programming after 2010 was networked from the national station KISS. History The station was founded by the Essex Radio Group, who at the time ...

(previously Vibe FM) on 106.4 MHz and the

Digital One Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It conta ...

digital radio multiplex, and which was formerly used for VHF 405 line transmissions of

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

. The mast stands at the corner of the former

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

airfield,

RAF Mendlesham Royal Air Force Mendlesham, or more simply RAF Mendlesham, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Stowmarket, Suffolk, England. History RAF Fighter Command use Mendlesham airfield was built in 1943 and opened in late December o ...

. This was used by the RAF and US

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces S ...

between 1943 and 1955, and once held a memorial to the US 34th Bomb Group. The memorial has now been moved to the churchyard of St. Mary's in Mendlesham. Although some of the land has reverted to agriculture or is an industrial estate, one airstrip is now used by the Suffolk Coastal Floaters Hang Gliding Club. There are two churches in the village, a small URC chapel and the grand medieval church of St Mary the Virgin, built at a time when the village had a much larger population, as well as a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

chapel in Mendlesham Green. Unlike many

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

churches today, there is a

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

(Communion) service held every day at St Mary's. In 1531 , the Mendlesham Christian Brethren were a group of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

dissenters, and two decades later, Adam Foster became a Marian martyr, after he refused to attend a

Roman Catholic mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ ...

. He was condemned to be

burnt at the stake Death by burning is an execution, murder, or suicide method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment for and warning agai ...

John Hopton John Hopton (died 1558) was the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Norwich. He was a member of the Dominican Order by 1516, in Oxford. He was educated at the University of Bologna in Italy, where he took a doctorate in theology. During the reign of ...

, the

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Th ...

. Mendlesham had the second station on the

Mid-Suffolk Light Railway The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) was a standard gauge railway intended to open up an agricultural area of central Suffolk; it took advantage of the reduced construction cost enabled by the Light Railways Act 1896. It was launched with consi ...

, which ran from 1904 to 1952. Mendlesham Manor is an Elizabethan

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 usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

. Close to Mendlesham is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Mendlesham Green, which contains Mendlesham Green Baptist Church. The village was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.

References

External links

Mendlesham Parish Council
- Mendlesham's official website
St Mary the Virgin Mendlesham
Villages in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District Civil parishes in Suffolk {{Suffolk-geo-stub

See also

References

External links