Snape, Suffolk

Last updated

Snape
Snape church - geograph.org.uk - 4672.jpg
St John the Baptist, Snape
Suffolk UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Snape
Location within Suffolk
Population611 (2011)
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Saxmundham
Postcode district IP17
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Suffolk
52°10′N1°30′E / 52.17°N 1.5°E / 52.17; 1.5
Snape Village Sign Snape Village Sign.webp
Snape Village Sign

Snape is a small village in the English county of Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh. At the 2011 census the population was 611. [1] In Anglo-Saxon England, Snape was the site of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial. Snape is now best known for Snape Maltings, no longer in commercial use, but converted into a tourist centre together with a concert hall that hosts the major part of the annual Aldeburgh Festival.

Contents

Early history

There has been human habitation at Snape for some 2,000 years[ citation needed ] though the original village stood on higher ground, around the present church (it is not known why the village moved nearer to the river). The Romans established a settlement here, centred on salt production. In Anglo-Saxon times the Wuffingas (who ruled East Anglia from Rendlesham) used Snape largely as a burial site, and archaeological investigations have revealed ship burials and other graves.

In 1085 the Domesday Book recorded forty-nine men. The book also mentions a church, standing in eight acres, and valued at sixteen pence (a larger sum than it now sounds). The present church, however, originally thatched, was built in the 13th century, with the 15th-century additions of a porch and tower.

Snape Priory was founded in 1155[ citation needed ] downriver from the village, by William Martell, a local landowner, who was about to set off as part of the Third Crusade. It survived until 1525, when it was closed and stripped of its wealth by Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York. One of its barns, built by the monks, is all that still stands, and has been dated to 1295[ citation needed ]

The monks also built a watermill, and probably also constructed the first bridge across the Alde. This was wooden at first, though in 1802 a brick bridge was built, and then itself replaced in 1960.

In the 15th century Snape (with a population of under 500) shared its own rotten borough Member of Parliament for "Snape-cum-Aldeburgh".

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to Benhall with a total population at the 2011 Census of 1,911. [2]

Trade

Snape has had five main industries throughout its history. Under the Romans it was salt production, but in the 19th century it was fertiliser, created from coprolite found locally. The discovery of the commercial viability of this process (by a Saxmundham bone merchant, Edward Packard) led to what has been dubbed "the Suffolk Gold Rush", and local fortunes were made (Packard established what was to become the fertiliser company Fisons, now part of AstraZeneca).

Sugar beet was also an important product; it was first grown commercially in and exported to the Netherlands from Snape. The Maltings, producing and exporting high-quality malted barley, was a fourth important industry, which bequeathed buildings to the fifth significant industry: tourism.

Snape had already tasted success as a tourist destination, for in the 18th and 19th centuries the Snape Race Course on the banks of the Alde was the site of a race meeting held every year for nearly 150 years. This led to the building of a new road (now the A1094) by the Aldeburgh Turnpike Company, which made Snape easy to get to, and which continued to be the main route to the village even after the coming of the railways (which reached Snape in 1888, though only for goods traffic to the Maltings).

As a result of fertiliser, sugar beet, and malted barley, Snape had become a very busy inland port by the end of the 19th century. The Maltings, with its fine brick buildings and riverside position, was ideally suited for redevelopment as a tourist centre when it closed as a going concern in 1960, and now constitutes the main industry in the village. In particular, the famous Aldeburgh Festival is now held in the Maltings, emphasising the area's links with Benjamin Britten.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suffolk</span> County of England

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 town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldeburgh</span> Coastal town in Suffolk

Aldeburgh is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Aldeburgh Festival of arts at nearby Snape Maltings, which was founded by Britten in 1948. It also hosts an annual poetry festival and several food festivals and other events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldeburgh Festival</span> Arts festival in England

The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall.

Leiston is an town in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is close to Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, 21 miles (34 km) north-east of Ipswich and 90 miles (145 km) north-east of London. The town had a population of 5,508 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Framlingham</span> Town in Suffolk, England

Framlingham is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 census and an estimated 4,016 in 2019. Nearby villages include Earl Soham, Kettleburgh, Parham, Saxtead and Sweffling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prittlewell</span> Human settlement in England

Prittlewell is an inner city area and former civil parish in Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Historically, Prittlewell is the original settlement of the city, Southend being the south end of Prittlewell. The village of Prittlewell was originally centered at the joining of three main roads, East Street, West Street, and North Street, which was extended south in the 19th century and renamed Victoria Avenue. The principal administrative buildings in Southend are located along Victoria Avenue, although Prittlewell is served by Prittlewell railway station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snape Maltings Concert Hall</span>

Snape Maltings Concert Hall is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, England. It is best known as one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. It is now one of two headquarters for Britten Pears Arts, with the other being The Red House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Alde</span> River system in Suffolk, England

The River Alde and River Ore form a river system in Suffolk, England passing by Snape and Aldeburgh. The River Alde and River Ore meet northwest of Blaxhall. From there downriver the combined river is known as the River Alde past Snape and Aldeburgh, and then again as the River Ore as it approaches Orford and flows by a shingle spit before emptying into the North Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldringham cum Thorpe</span> Human settlement in England

Aldringham cum Thorpe is a civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located south of the town of Leiston, the parish includes the villages of Aldringham and Thorpeness, which is on the coast, between Sizewell (north) and Aldeburgh (south). In 2007 it had an estimated population of 700, rising to 759 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friston</span> Human settlement in England

Friston is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Saxmundham, its post town, and 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Aldeburgh. The River Alde bounds the village on the south. The surrounding land is chiefly arable. The soil becomes partly marshy in the lower grounds. The village is noted for its early nineteenth century post mill. It is located next to the village of Knodishall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iken</span> Village in Suffolk, England

Iken is a small village and civil parish in the sandlands of the English county of Suffolk, an area formerly of heathland and sheep pasture. It is near the estuary of the River Alde on the North Sea coast and is located south east of Snape and due north of Orford. To its west is Tunstall Forest, created since the 1920s by the Forestry Commission and now part of the Sandlings Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery</span> Anglo-Saxon burial site

The Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery is a place of burial dated to the 6th century AD located on Snape Common, near to the town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk, Eastern England. Dating to the early part of the Anglo-Saxon Era of English history, it contains a variety of different forms of burial, with inhumation and cremation burials being found in roughly equal proportions. The site is also known for the inclusion of a high status ship burial. A number of these burials were included within burial mounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dommoc</span>

Dommoc, a place not certainly identified but probably within the modern county of Suffolk, was the original seat of the Anglo-Saxon bishops of the Kingdom of East Anglia. It was established by Sigeberht of East Anglia for Saint Felix in c. 629–631. It remained the bishopric of all East Anglia until c. 673, when Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, divided the see and created a second bishopric at either North Elmham, Norfolk, or South Elmham, Suffolk. The see of Dommoc continued to exist until the time of the Viking Wars of the 860s, after which it lapsed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newson Garrett</span> 19th-century businessman in Aldeburgh, Suffolk

Newson Garrett was a maltster, instrumental in the revival of the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, of which he became mayor at the end of his life. Two of his daughters, Millicent and Elizabeth, became famous as women's rights activists, and his granddaughter Philippa was the first woman to rank highest in the Mathematical Tripos examinations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Glemham</span> Human settlement in England

Great Glemham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, England, a mile and a half to the west of the A12 and roughly equidistant between Framlingham and Saxmundham.

The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England is the study of the archaeology of England from the 5th century AD to the 11th century, when it was ruled by Germanic tribes known collectively as the Anglo-Saxons.

Sutton is a village and a civil parish on the B1083 road, in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. Sutton has a pub, a mobile post office and a place of worship. There is also the hamlet of Sutton Street and the Sutton Common estate nearby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snape branch line</span>

The Snape branch line was a railway branch line located in Suffolk which served Snape Maltings. It ran from Snape Junction on the East Suffolk line and was 1¼ miles long. The line was opened in 1859 and throughout its life was operated as a freight-only line. The line was closed 101 years later in 1960.

Britten Pears Arts is a large music education organisation based in Suffolk, England. It aims to continue the legacy of composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, singer Peter Pears, and to promote the enjoyment and experience of music for all. It is a registered charity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A1094 road</span> Road in Suffolk, England

The A1094 is an A road in the English county of Suffolk. It is around 7 miles (11 km) in length. The road runs from a junction off the A12 trunk road at Friday Street in Benhall to Aldeburgh on the North Sea coast. The road is single carriageway throughout.

References

  1. "Parish population 2011" . Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  2. "Ward population 2011" . Retrieved 17 September 2015.