Wherstead is a village and a

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 ...

located 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. Wherstead village lies south of

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, ...

on the

Shotley peninsula The Shotley Peninsula is a rural area east of the A137 Ipswich-Colchester road located between the rivers River Stour, Suffolk, Stour and River Orwell, Orwell in Suffolk, England. The peninsula is named after the settlements of Shotley and Sh ...

. It is in the Belstead Brook

electoral division An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

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 ...

History

It is an ancient settlement, and from its soil the plough has brought to light many evidences of occupation by Romans and by early Britons. 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 the place is described under 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 ...

names ''Querstede'' and ''Wervesteda''.Open Domesday: Wherstead
Accessed April 2020.

Toponymic surname A toponymic surname or habitational surname or byname is a surname or byname derived from a place name,

s which originate from Wherstead include Quested and Quersted. The name of the village and parish is in today generally pronounced Wersted or Warsted by the residents, the "a" in the latter case having the sound of "a" in father.

Paul family

The Paul farming and malting family brought land in Wherstead in 1934. The late George Paul earned an MBE, following a long had association with Suffolk Horses and horseracing. His son and nephews run Suffolk Food Hall.

Buildings

Church of St Mary

The Church of St Mary, Wherstead, is an Anglican church situated on a hill top site occupied by a church since 1086. It is currently managed by the Two Rivers Benefice, which is composed of the Parishes of Stutton, Holbrook, Woolverstone and Freston, as well as Wherstead. Foster Barham Zincke was vicar of St Mary, Wherstead when he wrote ''Materials for the History of Wherstead'' first published as a series of articles in the '' Suffolk Chronicle'', which were later gathered into book form. Following the publication of the First Edition, in 1887. The subsequent Second Edition featured additional material gathered in Part II: Wherstead in Domesday.

Bourne Bridge

Bourne Bridge marks the boundary of Wherstead parish. Near the bridge stands the Ostrich Inn. At the time of the New England migration, oysters were abundant in the

River Orwell The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at Stoke Bridge, about half a mile below where the river beco ...

, and some speculate that Ostrich was a corruption from 'Oyster Ridge' or 'Oyster Reach'. It is more likely that the pub name derives from the crest of lawyer and Chief Justice,

Sir Edward Coke Sir Edward Coke ( , formerly ; 1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into an upper-class family, Coke was ...

, who acquired the surrounding estate in 1609, and the pub sign is similar to others across East Anglia. In 1995 the pub was renamed from The Ostrich to The Oyster Reach. In 2017 the Oyster Reach branding was removed and it is now part of the Beefeater chain.

Wherstead Park

Wherstead Park is a notable historic house which was converted to an events venue. It closed as such Christmas 2023.

References

*Merrill, Samuel; ''A Merrill Memorial'', reprint, p 48-49

External links

* * * * * * * {{authority control Villages in Suffolk Babergh District Civil parishes in Suffolk