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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Ickworth
Ickworth is a small civil parish, almost coextensive with the estate of the National Trust's Ickworth House, in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, eastern England, 2.3 miles (3.7 km) south-west of Bury St Edmunds. The population of the parish was only minimal at the 2011 Census and is included in the civil parish of Lawshall.

Landmarks

Ickworth has three main clusters of the 12 listed structures in the Grade II* listed park and garden which are:

Name Grade Notes
Ickworth House Grade I National Trust
Sir John Hervey's Summerhouse Grade II
St Mary's Church Grade II*
White House Grade II
Mordaboys Cottages Grade II Thatched 17th century.
Garden walling by summerhouse Grade II
Coach House Grade II
Garden wall by church Grade II
Ha-ha Grade II
Stable Block Grade II
Balustrading by entrance Grade II

The main park also had the only vineyard on National Trust land, until 2015 when it was grubbed up to allow the walled garden to be reinstated. An orchard of historic fruit trees was planted as the first stage of this plan.

History

Early history

Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having 12 heads of household (nine of which villagers (villeins), three as smallholders) and four tied serfs (slaves), Ickworth rendered £3 and a small vill-tax to its overlords and was valued as being worth £4 per year.

Modern history

Samuel Lewis's overview of 1848 reads:

...a parish, in the union and hundred of Thingoe, W. division of Suffolk, 2½ miles (S. W.) from Bury St. Edmund's; containing 62 inhabitants. This place is the property of the Marquess of Bristol, whose magnificent seat is within the parish. The mansion, consisting of a circular centre connected with wings by extensive corridors, was commenced in 1792, but the western wing is not yet completed; the park, which includes the parish, comprises about 2000 acres of rich land. The surface is varied, and the lower grounds are watered by a rivulet which expands into a broad lake, the whole forming one of the most splendid demesnes in the country. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 11. 5½., and in the gift of the Marquess: the tithes have been commuted for £192. 1. 6., and the glebe comprises 5 acres. The church, the tower of which has been rebuilt by the present marquess, who has also added a south aisle, has a chancel in the early English style, and some windows in the decorated and later styles.

The bulk of the land formed Lord Bristol's main freehold estate which was sold for public benefit to the National Trust to pay the precursor to inheritance tax in 1956.

In 2005 its population was estimated at 30.

Demography

The 2011 census does not provide a population (see above) although Ickworth is part of the west of Census Output Area E00153548, which had 275 inhabitants of which 185 lived in a detached dwelling, 16 lived in a purpose-built block of flats or tenement, five in part of a converted or bed-sit and one in a commercial building.

Transport

To the east is the A143 which is linked to the A14 by the shortest route via a turning onto a minor straight road in Horringer, Westley Lane, immediately to the north. The A14 is a main East-West route in England which then leads west to: