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Snape

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"SNAPE, a parish in the hundred of Plomesgate, county Suffolk, 3 miles S.E. of Saxmundham, its post town, and 51 from Aldborough. It is a station on the East Suffolk railway. The village, which is designated "Snape Street," is situated near the river Alde, a branch of the Ore, over which is a bridge. The parish includes the hamlet of Grumford and The Ward. There was anciently a Benedictine priory, founded by W. Martell in the 11th century as a cell to the Abbey of St. John at Colchester, but subsequently given by Henry VII. to Butley Abbey. On either side of Snape bridge are wharves, which are the means of facilitating a considerable trade in grain to the port of London and other markets. In the vicinity of the village are sand and clay pits and excellent brick earth. The living is a vicarage annexed to that of Freston, in the diocese of Norwich. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, has a tower containing three bells. The interior of the church contains a hexagonal font, on which are carved many figures. The register dates from 1544. The parochial charities produce about £8 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes. The remains of Snape Abbey are now converted into a farmhouse."

"GRUMFORD, a village in the parish of Snape, county Suffolk, 3 miles S. of Saxmundham."

"THE WARD, a hamlet in the parish of Snape, county Suffolk, 3 miles S. of Saxmundham.

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)

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Church History

Descriptions and photographs of churches in the parish may be found in Simon Knott's Suffolk Churches.

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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Snape which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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Historical Geography

Snape Ship Burial - The Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery is a place of burial dated to the 6th century CE 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.

The first recorded excavation of the site was conducted by antiquarians in 1827, with a later, more thorough investigation taking place in 1862 under the control of landowner Septimus Davidson. Artefacts from the earliest excavations soon disappeared, although important finds uncovered from the 1862 excavation included a glass claw beaker and the Snape Ring, now housed in The British Museum, London.

During the 20th century, the heathland that the cemetery was on was given over to farmland, with a road and house being constructed atop the site. Today, the burial mounds themselves are not accessible to the public, although the artefacts uncovered by the excavation are on display at the Aldeburgh Moot Hall Museum in the nearby coastal town of Aldeburgh.

For details see The Snape Boat Grave.

The only other UK ship burials are at Sutton Hoo, nearby in Suffolk, and at Balladoole in the Isle of Man.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TM398585 (Lat/Lon: 52.172821, 1.505255), Snape which are provided by: