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Wangford Village Picture Tour
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Next to number 46 stood a meeting hall that used to be used
by the Ancient Order of Foresters (Who?).
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The last property, at the junction with Church Street, was a tiny sweet shop and the
present garage is a downsized former brick barn, constructed in the style known as "brick-on-edge".
At the crossroads (far left) are Southwold Road, Hill Road, and Church
Street. There has been some recent controversy over the road name to Reydon. It was recently named
Wangford Road, without any knowledge of the villagers. The Parish Council challenged this name with
the District Council and was eventually given the choice of name. After some discussion Councillors
decided to call the road Wangford Hill.
Hill Road was originally Duck Lane, thought to be a derivation of Dock Lane as boats
were once able to reach a quayside here. A few old cottages are in this area and the row of council
houses further on, in front of Hill Farm buildings, is the site of Wangford Common. This has been
obliterated by the present situation. Around 1860, the name of the farm was Common Farm. Old
photographs clearly show the Green.
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Number 71. First on the right, and is joined to the last house and old shop in Norfolk
Road. It was named Providence House when successive Methodist Ministers lived here.
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Number 69, Ivy Cottage, with its quarter acre garden, was a private boarding and day
school in the mid 19th Century and subsequent occupants included the Parish Clerk, a veterinary
surgeon and a school teacher.
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38. The Town House is opposite and has later been called Well Cottage. The wrought
iron gate on the gable end is thought to be spurious. This was originally a pair of very small
cottages where retired Henham Estate employees resided rent free, thereby representing one of the
Wangford Charities.
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At the entrance to Church Close is a stylish old garage built by the Henham Estate and
used for many years from the 1930s by Jack Brown, a taxi driver from number 40, who also kept pigs,
chickens, ducks etc. and grew fruit, vegetables and flowers on the land occupied by River View, the
land behind Hill Road council houses and all the Church Close land.
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63 & 61 were houses for Henham Estate workers and the front porch construction has
the Masonic influence, typical of the Rous family property.
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59,57 & 55 form the Alms Houses. These were established in memory of one of Lord
Stradbroke´s family and occupied by former estate workers. Details are on the foundation plaque.
Beside these , from 53 to 39, was the field where the mill stood. A gateway and track was where the
entrance to Millfields is now. The miller´s brick bungalow was beside the mill. One of the young
sons of the miller at the beginning of the 20th Century, Frank Martin, was crushed when his clothing
caught in the mechanism.
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37 was where the footpath emerged from Norfolk Road (far right). The Henham
Estate built the pair of cottages, clearly from odds and ends as the roof was half tile and half
slate. The back wall was stone whilst the front was brick and the odd assortment of beams in the
kitchen ceiling had been well used previously.
The occupants here had to cross other people´s back garden to reach the well,
situated in the back yard of number 31. From here, every house down to number 1 Church Street had
access to the allotments from the rear of their properties and most families made good use of the
plots for horticulture, poultry and linen lines.
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The Vicarage was opposite 37. Part of it, facing north, was extremely old and
converted from farm workers´ houses; the newer addition was built to face east. The lawn was
constantly used for village fetes and other events. The huge cellar was filled in during more recent
modernisation work.
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