WOODBRIDGE, a market-town and parish in the
hundred of LOES, county of SUFFOLK, 7 miles (E. N.
E.) from Ipswich, and 765 (N.E. by E.) from London,
containing 4060 inhabitants. This town is of considerable
antiquity, for, so early as the time of Edward the
Confessor, the prior and convent of Ely had possessions
here: the name is thought to be a corruption of Wodenbryge,
from the Saxon god Wpden. Towards the termination
of the twelfth century a priory was founded here,
by Errialdus Rufus and others, and dedicated to the
Virgin Mary, the revenue of which, at the dissolution,
was valued at £50. 3. 5.: a house built by one of the
Seckfords, now in the possession of the Carthew family,
still retains the name pf the Abbey, In 1666, upwards of
three hundred and twenty-seven inhabitants died of the
plague, and were buried, according to tradition, at Bearman's
Hill, in the vicinity. The town is pleasantly situated
on the north side of the river Deben, in the direct
road from London to Yarmouth, and occupies the slope
of a hill surrounded by beautiful walks; it consists of
two principal streets, a spacious square called Market
Hill, and several narrow streets and lanes, and is paved,
lighted, and amply supplied with water; the atmosphere
is highly salubrious, and the general appearance of the
town is neat and respectable; from the summit of the
hill is a commanding view of the river Deben to its influx
into the sea. A small theatre was built in 1813;
and a concert is held annually. During the war, barracks
were erected on the high ground about half a mile
north-west of the town, with accommodation for seven
hundred and fifty cavalry and four thousand one hundred
and sixty-five infantry; those for the latter were
pulled down on the restoration of peace. The trade
principally consists in the exportation of corn, flour, and
malt; and in the importation of coal, timber, foreign
wine, spirits, porter, grocery, drapery, and ironmongery.
The shipping is greatly on the increase, consisting at
present of thirty-eight vessels, of an aggregate burden
of two thousand six hundred and fifty-nine tons; vessels
sail weekly from this port to London, and many
others are employed in trading with Newcastle, Hull,
and the Continent; one or two sail direct to Liverpool,
from which place they bring back salt; and there is a
small trade to the Baltic for timber. A manufacture
of salt, of peculiarly fine quality, was formerly carried
on here; and there was a brisk business in ship-building,
but both have declined. The river Deben, near its
mouth, forms the haven of Woodbridge, from which it
is navigable for vessels of one hundred and twenty tons'
burden to the town 5 and on its bank are two excellent
quays, the common quay, where the general exports
and imports are shipped and landed, and the limekiln
quay, where there are two docks, in which small ships
of war and other vessels were formerly built: at the cus-
tom-house, in Quay-lane, the usual officers of collector,
comptroller, tide-survey or, and coast-waiter, are stationed.
The market is on Wednesday, for corn, cattle, and provisions
and fairs are held on April 5th and October
23rd. The government of the town is vested, according
to the provisions of an act of parliament, called Gilbert's
Act, in a visitor and two guardians, chosen by the parishioners
not rated under £5 per annum, whose duty
it is to determine and superintend the collection and
application of the parochial rates; in other respects
the churchwardens exercise local authority. The quarter
sessions for the liberty of St. Ethelred, and the hundreds
of Colneis, Carlford, Loes, Plomesgate, Welford,
and Thredling, are held here; and petty sessions take
place every Wednesday. The sessions hall, under which
is the corn market, in the centre of the market hill,
erected in 1587, by Thomas Seckford, Esq., has recently
undergone some extensive repairs; it is a handsome
and lofty edifice of brick. On an adjacent eminence
is the bridewell, rebuilt in 1804.
The living is a perpetual curacy, to which the impropriate
rectory has been annexed, in the archdeaconry
of Suffolk, and diocese of Norwich, endowed with £200
private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the
patronage of the Rev. T. Carthew. The church, which
is dedicated to St. Mary, was built by John, Lord Segrave,
in the reign of Edward III., and the tower and
north portico in that of Henry VI.: on the north side
of the chancel is an elegant private chapel, built in the
reign of Elizabeth, by Thomas Seckford, Esq., in which
is a tomb without an inscription, over the family vault,
probably erected to his memory: the north portico is
adorned with sculpture, in relief, representing the conflict
of St. Michael and the Dragon. The tower is stately
and magnificent, and, like the church, is constructed of
dark flint intermixed with freestone, and, towards the1
upper part, formed into elegant devices; the summit is
crowned with battlements, having finials at the angles,
which are surmounted by vanes, and decorated in the
intervals with badges of the four Evangelists; it is one
hundred and eight feet high. There are places of worship
for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents,
and Wesleyan Methodists. The free grammar school,
in Well-street, was founded in the year 1662, by Mrs.
Dorothy Seckford and others (this lady having also
bequeathed the tithes of the parish to the minister),
and is endowed with property producing about £37 per
annum. The master is elected by the heirs of the founder
and the perpetual curate, or, in default of such,
by the lord of the priory manor, the perpetual curate,
the two churchwardens, and the three principal owners,
and three principal occupiers, of land in the parish: his
salary is £25 per annum, with land worth about £12
per annum and a rent-free residence, for instructing
free scholars, of whom there are about ten, and he has
£ 3 per annum for day scholars, with permission to
take boarders. A National school, in Bridewell-street,
in which are three hundred and fifty boys and girls,
is supported by voluntary contributions, and by grants
from the National School Society. A school on the
Lancasterian system, in Miller's-lane, affords instruction
to about one hundred children of both sexes;
and there is a Sunday school, twenty-four of the girls
in which are also clothed. Almshouses were erected,
in the time of Elizabeth, by Thomas Seckford, Esq., for
the residence of thirteen poor unmarried men, with
another house for three poor women, to attend them as.
nurses, and endowed with an estate in the parish of St.
John's, Clerkenwell, London, which, in 1767, produced
an income of £ 568 per annum; but more than £ 20,000
having been expended on it, such is the improving state
of the property, that the rental is expected eventually to
produce between £5000 and £6000 per annum. The
inmates must be chosen from among the poor inhabitants
of Woodbridge, if proper objects can be found,
by the minister and churchwardens; the principal of
these poor men receives £27 per annum, and each of
the other twelve £20, with various extra allowances;
the men wear a silver badge, with the arms of the
founder. The sum of £10 is given annually to the poor
of Clerkenwell, and a like annuity is paid to the minister
of this parish, for instructing the almspeople and visiting
them when sick; and £5 per annum is given to
each of the churchwardens, as paymasters of the establishment;
this institution is placed under the government
of the Master of the Rolls and the Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas, by patent of Queen Elizabeth.
There are, besides, different benefactions, amounting to
about £150 per annum, for the benefit of the poor.
Various relics of antiquity, especially fragments of warlike
instruments, have been occasionally found in the.
vicinity. Christopher Saxton, the publisher of the first
county maps, was a native of this place, and servant to
Thomas Seckford, Esq., a great benefactor to the town>
who resided in a mansion house at Great Bealings,
about a mile and a half distant: they were published
under his patronage, in 1579, and dedicated to Queen
Elizabeth.