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Trimley St. Martin 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 East Suffolk district, in the 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 ...
, England. It lies between the rivers
Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
and the Deben, on the long narrow tongue of land from
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
to
Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...
referred to as the Colneis Hundred. In 2011 the parish had a population of 1942. The village, and its neighbour Trimley St. Mary, are famous for their adjacent churches, which were built as the result of a historical family feud. St. Martin's church is the northerly church (at ).


History

Archaeological findings in the Hams Farm area show evidence of prehistoric, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and late post-medieval workings, including fired flints and a number of Central Gaulish Samian ware pieces. In nearby
Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingd ...
, recent archaeological findings show evidence of Bronze Age field systems in use. The
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
through Trimley St Martin linked the Roman fort of Walton to the rest of
Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...
. Recent evidence shows evidence of ring ditches near Cavendish Grove. There is evidence of an
Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
settlement near Hams Hall In the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
this area was often invaded, overrun, settled and populated by a variety of Scandinavian plunderers. These settlements all soon had their names, usually after the chieftain or leader. Over the centuries these first names have changed considerably, sometimes becoming quite unrecognisable. Trimley is no exception. It has variously been spelled as Tremeleaia, Tremlega, Tremlye, Tremele, Tremeleye, Tremleye and Tremley. 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 reveals a complex pattern of landholding in the area, with many vills described as being in Trimley. Alteston, Candlet, Grimston, Lestaneston, Morston, Plumgeard and Thorpe are all separately recorded, but their names have declined in importance, being remembered only in the names of Halls (Grimston) or farms (Candlet). In Trimley itself, the most interesting entry records the two churches here. Godric, commended to Northmann, held Trimley with 50 acres as a manor before the Conquest. In 1086 the manor was held by Turold from Roger Bigod, and included two acres of meadow, a free man under Turold with four acres of ploughland, a church with 20 acres and a church with eight acres. Also in Trimley, three free men commended to Northmann and one commended to Wihtmaer held six acres before the Conquest; this land listed under the holdings of Roger Bigod in 1086. Finally, Leofric, commended to the abbot of Ely, held 40 acres as a manor. Roger Bigod held him from the king in 1086. The estate remained with the Bigods until the death of a later Roger in 1306, and in 1312 the Bigod estates passed to Edward II's brother, Sir Thomas de Brotherton. Thomas is recorded building a church at Trimley shortly afterwards. In the 14th century, the hamlet of Alston was incorporated into Trimley St Martin. The parish was cut in half by the building of the Trimley-Walton bypass in 1974, which was built to stop port traffic going through the high streets of the Trimleys and Walton. In the early 1980s the village more than doubled in size with the building of the Barrett estate and other houses.


Alteinestuna

This was a small medieval village located in Trimley St Martin


Grimston Hall

In the 16th century, Grimston Hall was the seat of
Thomas Cavendish Sir Thomas Cavendish (1560 – May 1592) was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and ret ...
"The Navigator". ''The Suffolk Traveller'' (1800 edition) originally by John Kirby reported that two Ilexes planted by Thomas Cavendish were still standing. The Ilexes may be Holm Oaks, thereby linking in with a long, anonymous poem which includes the lines: 'By God said Thomas Cavendish, Whatever may befall, I'll always love dear Trimley and the Oaks of Grimston Hall.'


Pouch Meadow

In 1741 the Suffolk Traveller
John Kirby (topographer) John Kirby (1690 – 13 December 1753) was an English land surveyor and topographer. His book ''The Suffolk Traveller'', first published in 1735, was the first single county road-book.John Blatchly, ''John Kirby's Suffolk: His Maps and Roadbooks' ...
surveyed the area around Felixstowe and in his note on Trimley he mentioned 'the lane to the pouch', which led to a small meadow east of the two churches, which contained a spring of clear water, generally regarded the source of Kingsfleet. The stream can still be seen flowing out from a concrete opening that was constructed when the Civil Engineers covered the greater part of the meadow with what is now known as the Trimley Roundabout (A14 Junction 59). During dredging of the stream to assist the construction of the by-pass, a mill-stone was discovered which was identified as being medieval. The path that runs between a
smock mill The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This t ...
, which was near Mill Lane, and the top of pouch meadow is called CrowsWell Way


Coprolite mining

Coprolite A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name ...
was mined heavily around Trimley St Martin and surrounding villages, and at the height of the industry the open cast method of mining was used. Huge holes were dug in the countryside to get at the precious commodity. Owners of land with viable seams were offered around £20 for the rights to mine their land, the price of a nice house in the Victorian era. Commercial mining was driven by large companies like Packards and
Fisons Fisons plc was a British Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical, scientific instruments and horticultural chemicals company headquartered in Ipswich, United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a cons ...
.


The Great Fire

On the night of 19 June 2013, the village hall was gutted by fire.


Notable residents

*
Thomas Cavendish Sir Thomas Cavendish (1560 – May 1592) was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and ret ...
(1560–1592), English explorer, "The Navigator" *
Maurice Norman Maurice Norman (8 May 1934 – 27 November 2022) was an English association football, footballer who played nearly 400 times in the Football League as a Defender (association football), centre half for Norwich City F.C., Norwich City and Totten ...
(born 1934), footballer * Yvonne Drewry (1918–2007), artist and printmaker *
Arnold Allen Arnold Billy Allen (born 22 January 1994) is an English professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of 15 April 2025, he is #6 in the UFC featherweight ...
(born 1994), mixed martial artist


References


External links


Trimley Vision
– plans for the expansion of the village.
Save Trimley CampaignParish CouncilTrimley Sports And Social Club
with members bar and function Hall
Trimley St. Martin and the Coprolite Mining RushSuffolk Heritage Explorer
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk