Editing Woodbridge, Suffolk (section)

==Etymology==
Historians disagree over the etymology of Woodbridge. ''The Dictionary of British Placenames'' (2003) suggests that it is a combination of the Old English wudu (wood) and brycg (bridge).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mills |first=A. D. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54381298 |title=A dictionary of British place-names |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |others=A. D. Mills |isbn=978-0-19-173944-6 |location=Oxford |oclc=54381298}}</ref> The Sutton Hoo Society's 1988 magazine ''Saxon'' points out, however, that there is no suitable site for a bridge at Woodbridge, or any fordable sites until Wilford, the site of the current bridge, several miles upstream.<ref name="Saxon">{{Cite news |date=Spring 1988 |title=Where is the bridge at Woodbridge |work=Saxon |issue=7 |url=http://suttonhoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Saxon07.pdf}}</ref> It also raises that an Anglo-Saxon bridge being wooden would have been unlikely to be worthy of comment.<ref name="Saxon"/> It suggests that it might instead have been a combination of ''odde'' (a cognate of the Old Scandinavian ''oddi'' meaning 'promontory or cape') and ''breg'' (from the Anglo-Saxon ''brego'' meaning king – note the closeness of Sutton Hoo) or more likely ''bryg'' (a cognate of the Norwegian ''brygge'' or quay).<ref name="Saxon"/>

''The Suffolk Traveller'' (1764) suggests a similar origin to ''The Dictionary'' but originating from a bridge over a [[Sunken lane|hollow way]] that leads from Woodbridge Market Place to the Ipswich.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirby |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125011192529/page/n131 |title=The Suffolk Traveller |date=1764 |publisher=J. Shave and sold |pages=106 |language=en|author-link=John Kirby (topographer)}}</ref> But this is disputed by Rev. Thomas Carthew, then [[perpetual curate]] of Woodbridge who points out that the bridge had existed for less than a hundred years at that point and therefore was not old enough to be the source of the name.<ref name="Traveller">{{Cite web |title=Notes from a copy of the Suffolk Traveler |url=https://www.bigenealogy.com/suffolk/woodbridge_parish.htm |access-date=2021-05-05 |website=British Isle Geanology}}</ref> He instead suggests Oden or Woden ([[Odin]]) and Burgh, Bury, or Brigg (town).<ref name="Traveller"/> ''The Topographical Dictionary of England'' (1840) suggests a combination of Woden and Bryge.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Samuel |url= |title=A Topographical Dictionary of England |date=1840 |publisher=S. Lewis and Company |volume=4 |pages=581 |language=en |chapter=Woodbridge |author-link=Samuel Lewis (publisher) |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp649-652#h3-0017}}</ref>