Cottons of Grundisburgh (eBook)

Chapter 3
Grundisburgh and
Nearby Parishes

The stories in this book about the Cotton lineage begin in Grundisburgh, though other places where people were born, married, lived, or died after they relocated will be mentioned as well. These stories relate the lives of English families and take place in 19th-century England, so distances will be noted in kilometres instead of American miles. English spellings will be used while the characters lived in England, and will switch to the spellings of their new homeland once they’ve emigrated.

Grundisburgh (pronounced “Gruns-bruh”) is a village located ten kilometres northeast of Ipswich and seven kilometres northwest of Woodbridge. One account claims Grundisburgh was settled around the 9th century by Vikings who sailed up the Martlesham River. Another version asserts Grundisburgh was settled after the Romans built a 3rd-century fort in Burgh. Grundisburgh is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “Burgh in the valley” or “the part of Burgh which is in the valley bottom”7. Grundisburgh lies two kilometres southwest of Burgh, literally “down the hill” from Burgh, and the rivers Lark and Gull flow through it. Grundisburgh is listed in the Domesday Book under several spelling variations.

William the Conqueror became the King of England after the Normans defeated the English king at Battle of Hastings in 1066. Twenty years later, William feared an invasion by Denmark was imminent, and he needed to know what resources were available in case of another war. He commissioned a survey to determine the value of every asset in every locality in England. Assets included not only land and buildings, but also farm animals and tools, and the survey indicated the owner thereof. These assets became the basis for taxation, and thus identified who owed the taxes. This also meant that ownership of land or assets could no longer be contested, because it was written in the king’s book. The book became known as the Domesday Book because its statements were final, like those issued on Judgment Day.8

Like much of Suffolk, Grundisburgh was primarily an agricultural area. It expanded around a central green where St. Mary’s Anglican Church was erected about 1254 and still stands today. St. Mary’s was built on the site of an earlier church that itself was built around 1100, but little evidence of that earlier church remains. The current church has undergone several additions, upgrades, and repairs over the years.

Images courtesy of Kate J. Cole of Essex Voices Past

The Baptist Chapel was built in 1798 with seating for 800 congregants, and is one of the oldest dissenting churches in the area. The Baptist Chapel was built one kilometre south of the central green, because of tension between the established religion and one with “non-conforming” beliefs. About a third of Grundisburgh’s population had become Baptists by 1825.9 Each church hosted baptisms, marriages, and funerals of various Cotton ancestors.

The Old School was built next to St. Mary’s Anglican Church in 1874, with the schoolmaster’s two-story house attached at the southwest end of the building. The Old School, like St. Mary’s and the Baptist Chapel, is on the National Heritage List for England, together with 24 other historic buildings in Grundisburgh.10

Grundisburgh Hall was a manor house built over several centuries after the Norman Conquest and had several owners, beginning with Hervey de Bourges. It is also located about one kilometre south of The Green, and its name has also changed several times, coinciding with either new ownership or an expansion. It was given its current name in 1624 by William Blois, after a significant renovation to become a manor befitting a lord.

Grundisburgh had two public houses during the 19th century, the Half Moon Inn and the Dog Inn. The Half Moon Inn dates back to the 1700s and had a succession of proprietors, though today it is a private residence. The Dog Inn also dates back to the 1700s and also had multiple proprietors, but it continues today as a highly rated pub and restaurant. The author wonders which pub the Cotton ancestors patronized, on the rare occasions they had a small bit of extra cash.

Although Grundisburgh is only a small village, it does have a good share of fame. Bartholomew Gosnold is Grundisburgh’s most notable historical resident. He was born in Grundisburgh in 1571, founded the Virginia Company in nearby Otley Hall, and helped settle the first colony in America on Jamestown Island, Virginia in 1607. Previous to that voyage, he discovered and named Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod.11 Alice Driver is another famed resident, having been burnt at the stake for her protestant beliefs in 1558 in Ipswich. Sir Charles Blois, 1st Baronet, was born in Grundisburgh on 14 September 1657 and became a Tory Member of Parliament between 1695 and 1709. A Wicked Deed, the fifth in a series of Matthew Bartholomew mysteries by Susanna Gregory, takes place in 14th-century Grundisburgh. When I’m able to travel to Grundisburgh, I trust that the current residents of Grundisburgh will be a lot more welcoming to visitors than the characters portrayed in Ms. Gregory’s book.

John Lucock (1772 – 1821) was born and prospered in Grundisburgh and at his death, “… gave by will, out of certain monies therein mentioned, to purchase £300, 5 percent. Consolidated Bank Annuities, the dividends to be applied, in the sum of £5 a year in the purchase of 3d. loaves, to be distributed every Sunday in the year, to poor people residing in, or belonging to this parish; and £5 a year towards the maintenance of a Sunday school; the residue to be laid out in bread and coals, to be distributed on Christmas eve yearly, amongst poor widows and widowers. The produce of this bequest are applied as the donor directed, £11 7s. 2d. a year.”12 This charity is still in operation, makes annual disbursements in accordance with John Lucock’s will, and files the required annual reports on its income and spending.

Grundisburgh was similarly affected by the rural depopulation described in the previous chapter. The 1841 Census showed that 39 percent of its heads of households were agricultural labourers. That percentage fell to 27 percent in the 1881 Census. Also, the proportion of children under age 13 in the Grundisburgh population fell during this period from about a third to less than a quarter. The table at the end of each chapter shows that Grundisburgh’s population started a long, steady decline after 1841.13 Grundisburgh, like much of rural England, was getting older and smaller in the 19th century.

Visual reference to the following villages mentioned in this book,
Courtesy of Google Earth

Burgh, or Burgh St. Botolph, is a small village of 200 people today that is situated on a low cliff above the Waveney Estuary, two kilometres northeast of Grundisburgh. Burgh means “fortified place” and contains the ruins of a 3rd-century Roman fort.

Great Bealings is another small village with a population today of about 300 residents, near the Rivers Fynn and Lark. It is ten kilometres northeast of Ipswich and three kilometres south of Grundisburgh.

Culpho is yet another very small village three kilometres southwest of Grundisburgh. Its church dates prior to 1086. Culpho’s population today numbers less than 100 inhabitants.

These villages and towns form a relatively compact area where many of the Cotton families lived. These villages and towns will appear throughout this book, as the Cotton families are traced from one location to another. Although Grundisburgh, Burgh, Great Bealings and Culpho are all separate parishes, they will be combined in this book into the Grundisburgh geographic area due to their very close proximity and relatively small populations. The number of Cottons in the Grundisburgh geographic area in each census are counted at the end of each chapter and then compared to the total population of the Grundisburgh Geographic Area.

Brandeston is a village on River Deben about five kilometres east of Grundisburgh and 18 kilometres northeast of Ipswich. The current population of Brandeston, the birthplace of William Cotton, is about 300 residents. At some point, William traveled the 13 kilometres south to Grundisburgh where he married Mary Milbourne either on 22 February 1816 or on 12 September 1816—genealogy records occasionally being contradictory. The couple later moved to Great Bealings where all eight of their children were born.

Woodbridge is a town with a population today of 11,000 residents, 13 kilometres up the River Deben from the North Sea, six kilometres southeast of Grundisburgh and 15 kilometres northeast of Ipswich. It appears that Woodbridge became a district of Suffolk in 1894, so some records refer to Woodbridge as a district, while others refer to Woodbridge as a town. References to Woodbridge, Ipswich and other locations in this book will not distinguish between the district and the town.

Ipswich is the largest city in Suffolk, with a population today of about 133,000 residents. It lies on the River Orwell, 16 kilometres from the North Sea, about 105 kilometres northeast of...