MILDENHALL

"MILDENHALL, a parish, post, and small market town in the hundred of Lackford, county Suffolk, 5 miles N. of the Kennit railway station, and 9 N.E. of Newmarket. At Mildenhall Road is a station on the Great Eastern railway; it is situated on the river Lark, a tributary of the Ouse, and near the line of the Great Eastern railway. The Mildenhall Drain and the Drove pass in the vicinity. The parish includes the hamlets of Beck Row, Burnt Fen, Holywell Row, West Row, and Wilde Street. It is a polling place for West Suffolk, and a petty sessions town. The manor was given by Edward the Confessor to find the Bury monks in wheaten bread. In 1567 a great part of the town was consumed by fire.

The town is lighted with gas and abundantly supplied with water. It has one principal street and several smaller ones, besides detached portions reaching towards the fens on the N.W. It contains several good shops and hotels, also a mechanics' institution, bank, and police station with magistrates' room adjoining, in which the county courts are held monthly. The board of guardians meet at the workhouse weekly. There is a corn mill, also silk factory. A great portion of the surface is fen land. The soil is light and sandy, with a subsoil of chalk and clay. The latter is the fen districts. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely, value £369. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a stone structure with a tower, containing a clock and five bells. The interior of the church contains an ancient font, sedilia, and numerous monuments, among which are the effigies of Sir Henry North and family. The church was restored in 1851. The parochial charities produce about £150, £40 of which goes to Hanmer's almshouses. There are four schools for both sexes, two of them entirely supported by the Bunbury family. A Sunday-school is held in the boys' schoolroom. The Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists have each a place of worship. On the N. side of the town is a cemetery with a chapel in the centre. Sir Henry Bunbury, Bart., is lord of the manor and principal landowner. Many British and Roman antiquities were discovered here in 1833. Market day is Friday. An annual fair for wool is held on the 11th October."

"BECK ROW, a hamlet in the parish of Mildenhall, hundred of Lackford, in the county of Suffolk, 3 miles from Mildenhall."

"HIGHTOWN, a hamlet in the parish of Mildenhall St. Andrew, county Suffolk, 2 miles from Mildenhall, and 35 N.W. of Ipswich."

"HOLYWELL-ROW, a hamlet in the parish of Mildenhall, hundred of Lackford, county Suffolk, 2 miles N.W. of Mildenhall. It is situated on the road to Lakenheath, near the Fens."

"WEST-ROW, a hamlet in the parish of Mildenhall St. Andrew's, county Suffolk, 2 miles N.W. of Mildenhall."

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003