Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MILDENHALL

MILDENHALL, a small town, a parish, and a district, in Suffolk. The town stands on the river Lark, 3 miles E of the boundary with Cambridge, 4½ NW of Icknieldstreet, 5¼ N of Kennet r. station, and 9½ SW by S of Brandon; contains some good shops and inns; enjoys a good supply of excellent water; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; and has a post office‡ under Soham, a banking office, a police station, a church, three dissenting chapels, an ultra-mural cemetery, a literary institute, two national schools, a workhouse, almshouses with £49 a year, and charities £106. The church is early English, large and handsome; was repaired in 1851, and its tower restored in 1865; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, with fine porch, and with a tower 120 feet high; has a roof of richly-carved woodwork; and contains sedilia, an ancient font, and numerous monuments of the Norths, the Warners, the Hammers, the Bunburys, and the Wichfordes. The dissenting chapels are for Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists. The cemetery is on the E side of the town, and contains a neat small chapel. The workhouse is for M. district; and, at the census of 1861, had 57 inmates. A weekly market is held on Friday; a fair, for the sale of wood, is held on 11 Oct.; and there is a large corn-mill, worked by water and steam power. Pop. in 1851,1,760; in 1861,1,615. Houses, 326.—The parish contains also the watches or hamlets of Beck Row, Holywell Row, and West Row. Acres, 13,710. Real property, £21,293; of which £110 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,4,374; in 1861,4,046. Houses, 841. The manor was given in part, by Edward the Confessor, to the monks of Bury-St. Edmunds, to afford them wheaten bread; and, with the Manor House, belongs now to Sir Charles J. F. Bunbury, Bart. The Manor House was built, in the time of Charles I., by Sir Henry North, Bart.; is in Tudor architecture; and stands amid pleasant grounds. Beck Row Lodge is the residence of Mr. G. Wing; and Aspal Hall, an ancient building, is the residence of Mr. J. Webb. A large tract in the W and the N, bears the name of Mildenhall Fen. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £600. Patron, SirJ. F. Bunbury, Bart. Chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists are in Beck Row; and chapels for Baptists and Wesleyans, and national schools, are in West Row.

The district comprehends the sub-district of Lakenheath, containing the town of Mildenhall, the watches of Beck Row and Holywell Row, and the parishes of Lakenheath, Eriswell, Wangford, Elveden, and Icklingham; and the sub-district of Worlington, containing the watch of West Row, and the parishes of Worlington, Barton-Mills, Freckenham, Kentford, Herringswell, Tuddenham, and Cavenham. Acres, 61,244. Poor rates in 1863, £5,995. Pop. in 1851,10,354; in 1861,9,595. Houses, 2,051. Marriages in 1863,67; births, 312,-of which 21 were illegitimate; deaths, 235,-of which 79 were at ages under 5 years, and 9 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,690; births, 3,380; deaths, 1,992. The places of worship, in 1851, were 14 of the Church of England, with 2,424 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 250 attendants; 5 of Baptists, with 1,200 s.; 7 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,159 s.; 5 of Primitive Methodists, with 418 s.; and 1 undefined, with 60 s. The schools were 14 public day-schools, with 815 scholars; 16 private day-schools, with 349 s.; 23 Sunday schools, with 1,810 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 41 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Mildenhall CP/AP       Mildenhall RegD/PLU       Suffolk AncC
Place: Mildenhall

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