The village of Dallinghoo (1536 acres) is situated 4 ½ miles north of Woodbridge and 2 ½ miles west of Wickham Market. Its Anglo-Saxon name means ‘spur of land of the Dallingas (Dealla’s people)’ i and was mentioned in the Domesday Survey. The Lords of the Manor in the 12thC were the de Glanvilles, but there have been numerous and varied Lords since that time including Thomas Seckford and William Churchill, who built the manor house of Dallinghoo Hall in the early 1700’s and was the MP for Ipswich. His grandson, Francis Negus, was also the Ipswich MP and on his death in 1732, the Ipswich Gazette stated “Is Negus gone? Ah Ipswich, weep and mourn” ii. Dallinghoo Hall suffered a major fire in 1729 but was rebuilt.
The population was recorded as 20 in 1086 rising to a maximum of 385 in 1851 and then declining to its present value of 170. In 1674 there were 25 inhabited houses which rose to 73 in 1851 and has remained fairly constant ever since.
The parish church of St Mary’s was built in 1086 and restored in 1883 when oak benches to seat 184 people and an organ chamber and organ were provided. The church, formerly connected with the Abbey of Letheringham, is composed of flint with stone dressings and has a tower (one bell), nave and south porch; the chancel having been destroyed by fire. The lych gate was erected in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s jubilee. The pulpit sounding board is decorated with Tudor arms with supporters of a Tudor rose and pomegranate, the symbol of Catherine of Aragon. The non-conformist church was active in the area and land was purchased for a Quaker burial ground in 1703.
Although a school existed before 1818, the present school building was built in 1845 (for £600) from government grant and public subscription and catered for 100 children in 1885. The school is now a private residence. A Sunday school was established in 1829 and had attendances of around 40.
In the 17thC, Dallinghoo had 11 yeomen, 1 husbandman, a carpenter and a mariner. In 1831, there were 67 people in agriculture, 7 in retail and 12 in domestic service while in 1912, there were 11 farmers, a machine engineer, a boat-maker and a cycle agent. 16thC farming in Dallinghoo consisted of sheep, barley, dairy and pigs, changing to wheat, turnips, barley and clover in the 19thC. Today’s farming is mostly intensive cereal, sugar beet and peas with one dairy farm. Present occupations are various but with few in agriculture due to mechanisation.
The existing Relief in Need Charity has its roots in earlier charities such as the 1816 Will of Joseph Kersey which provided dividends for the provision of bread and coal for the poor, and the Church Support Committee provides a similar function to the 1840 ‘Church and Poor Lands’ where land and cottages were let to provide funds for church repairs (and sustenance for the poor).
A famous son of Dallinghoo was Francis Light (1740-1790), a sailor, trader and diplomat who was born at Dallinghoo House, educated at Woodbridge School and founded the colony of Penang in Malaya. His son William, a surveyor, designed the street plan for Adelaide in Australia.
The Dallinghoo Gold. In 2008 a total of 840 Iron Age gold coins – dating back to life in Britain before it fell under the influence of the Roman Empire – were found in a field. The Dallinghoo Gold was valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee at £300,000
A medieval moated site is listed in Dallinghoo, though this may be the same motte and bailey castle just inside the Bredfield border.
Jarrolds set up their first printing works at Grove Farm in 1823, subsequently moving to Norwich.
Dallinghoo Wield (now part of Dallinghoo) was until 1980 an extra-parochial parish without houses or population and was claimed to be the smallest English parish (38 acres).
Still remaining are the alms-houses in Church Lane, behind ‘Greenfields’ and the medieval Dallinghoo Wood.
Bigod’s Way passes through Dallinghoo on its route from Ufford to Framlingham.
The village sign adjacent to the Jubilee Hall was erected by the Friends of Dallinghoo and unveiled by Miss Joyce Blake on 14th September 1979. It depicts a map of Dallinghoo showing its major landmarks, roads and boundaries on a coloured perspex sheet and is mounted in a steel frame on a wooden post.
Author Keith Spicer
