Editing Woodbridge, Suffolk (section)

==History and heritage== 
Archaeological finds point to habitation in the area from the Neolithic Age (2500–1700 BCE). A ritual site was found while excavations were made for the [[East Anglia Array]], a wind farm at Seven Springs Field.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Maev |title=Archaeologists stumble on Neolithic ritual site in Suffolk |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/28/archaeologists-stumble-on-neolithic-ritual-site-in-suffolk |access-date=28 June 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=28 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The area was occupied by the Romans for 300 years after Queen [[Boudica]]'s failed rebellion in 59 CE, but there is little evidence of their presence.

After the Roman forces were recalled to Rome in 410 CE, substantial Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) settlement ensued. The Angles gave their name to East Anglia.

[[Rædwald of East Anglia|King Rædwald]] of [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]] was [[Bretwalda]], the most powerful king in England in the early 7th century. He died in about 624 CE and is often associated with the burial at [[Sutton Hoo]], across the River Deben from Woodbridge. The burial ship is {{convert|89|ft|m}} long. The treasures discovered there in 1939 were the richest finds ever on British soil. They are held now in the [[British Museum]] in London, but replicas of some items and the story of the finds can be seen in the Woodbridge Museum. The National Trust has built a visitor centre on the site.

The earliest record of Woodbridge as such dates from the mid-10th century, when it was acquired by St [[Aethelwold of Winchester|Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester]], as part of the endowment of a [[monastery]] he helped to refound at [[Ely, Cambridgeshire]] in 970.<ref>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol2/pp199-210 British History online. Retrieved 27 December 2019.]</ref> The Domesday Book of 1086 describes Woodbridge as part of [[Loes Hundred]] with 35 households, i.e. one of the largest 20 per cent of settlements recorded.<ref name="opendomesday">{{Cite web |title=Woodbridge |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TM2749/woodbridge/ |website=opendomesday.org |publisher=Open Domesday |access-date=6 December 2021}}</ref> Much of Woodbridge was granted to the powerful [[Bigod family]], who built the castle at [[Framlingham]].

The town has been a centre for [[boat building|boatbuilding]], [[rope|rope-making]] and [[sail|sail-making]] since the [[Middle Ages]]. [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] and Sir [[Francis Drake]] had fighting ships built in Woodbridge.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Long |first=Peter |date=2004 |title=The Hidden Places of England |publisher=Traveller Publishing Ltd |page=514 |isbn=1904434126}}</ref> The town suffered in the plague of 1349, but recovered enough, with encouragement from the Canons and growing general prosperity, to have a new church (St Mary's, behind the buildings on the south side of Market Hill) built of limestone from [[the Wash]] and decorated with [[Thetford]] flint. By the mid-15th century the Brews family had added a tower and porch.

On 12 October 1534, Prior Henry Bassingbourne confirmed Henry VIII's supremacy over the Church and rejected the incumbent "Roman Bishop". Nonetheless, [[Woodbridge Priory]] was dissolved three years later.<ref name= "list">[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-284631-the-abbey-junior-school-woodbridge The Abbey (Junior School), Woodbridge], British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 1 May 2011.</ref>

As religious unrest continued under the Roman Catholic [[Queen Mary I of England|Queen Mary]], Alexander Gooch, a weaver of Woodbridge, and Alice Driver of [[Grundisburgh]] were burnt for heresy on [[Rushmere Heath]]. Alice had previously had her ears cut off for likening Queen Mary to [[Jezebel]]. Subsequent religious settlement under Elizabeth I helped Woodbridge industries such as weaving, sail-cloth manufacture, rope-making and salt making to prosper, along with the wool trade. The port was enlarged, and shipbuilding and the timber trade became lucrative, so that a customs house was established in 1589.

The town has various buildings of the [[Tudor architecture|Tudor]], [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]], [[Regency style|Regency]] and [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] periods, and a [[Tide mill#Surviving tide mills in Britain|tide mill in working order]], one of only two in the UK and among the earliest. The mill first recorded on the site in 1170 was run by [[Augustinian canons]]. In 1536 it passed to King [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]]. In 1564, Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] granted the mill and the priory to [[Thomas Seckford]], who in 1577 founded [[Woodbridge School]] and the [[Seckford Trust|Seckford Almshouses]] for the poor of Woodbridge. Two [[windmill]]s survive, [[Buttrum's Mill, Woodbridge|Buttrum's Mill]], and [[Tricker's Mill, Woodbridge|Tricker's Mill]], of which Buttrum's is open to the public.<ref>[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/suffolk/woodbridge English Heritage descriptions. Retrieved 20 December 2010.]</ref>

In 1943, the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) built a [[military airfield]] east of Woodbridge. [[RAF Woodbridge]] was used during the [[Cold War]] by the [[United States Air Force]] as the base for two Tactical Fighter Squadrons until 1993.