Shimpling
Encyclopedia
Shimpling is a village
and civil parish
in south Suffolk
, England
. Located around 7 miles from Bury St Edmunds, it is part of Babergh
district. The village is essentially split into two halves, the newer Shimpling Street
and around 2 miles away the actual village of Shimpling. The village has a small parish
church, famous as being the site where supermodel
Claudia Schiffer
and film producer
Matthew Vaughn
were married on 25 May 2002.
The Chadacre Hall estate of 2,300 acres, including 22 farms and 54 houses, was finally sold in 1918. The hall later became an agricultural institute which closed in 1989 and was eventually purchased by David Hart
.
district of the shire county of Suffolk
. The three tiers of local government are administered by
Shimpling Parish Council has 7 elected members, the Chairman being Ken Durant. Matters that have been under recent consideration include:
(a) Affordable housing
(b) Village Hall insulation
(c) Children’s play area
In terms of community planning the parish does not currently have a Parish Plan
or Village Design Statement
.
Much of the parish south of Shimpling Street is within an area defined as Special Landscape Area. In addition parts of the Sites of Special Scientific Interest detailed below are defined within the parish.
lists the following listed buildings within the parish of Shimpling.
NB: The above property details represent the names and addresses that were used at the time that the buildings were listed. In some instances the name of the building may have changed over the intervening years
which are defined as ancient woodlands
.
service operated by H.C. Chambers & Son
:
Older children attend Hardwick Middle School and King Edward VI CEVC Upper School in Bury St Edmunds.
, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001
, Shimpling had a population of 395 with 162 households.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in south Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Located around 7 miles from Bury St Edmunds, it is part of Babergh
Babergh
Babergh is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council headquarters is based in Hadleigh, whilst its largest town is Sudbury.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Sudbury, Hadleigh urban district, Cosford Rural District, Melford Rural District and...
district. The village is essentially split into two halves, the newer Shimpling Street
Shimpling Street
Shimpling Street is a village in the Babergh District, in the English county of Suffolk. It is near the older village of Shimpling.-Location grid:...
and around 2 miles away the actual village of Shimpling. The village has a small parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
church, famous as being the site where supermodel
Supermodel
The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...
Claudia Schiffer
Claudia Schiffer
Claudia Schiffer is a German model and occasional actress, who reached the peak of her popularity during the 1990s, initially due to her resemblance to Brigitte Bardot. Schiffer is one of the world's most successful models, having appeared on over 500 magazine covers...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and directing the films Layer Cake , Stardust and Kick-Ass...
were married on 25 May 2002.
History
Background
Shimpling is a quiet, pretty village set in the Suffolk countryside surrounded by arable farmland. The settlement lies between Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds and historically its residents have made their living from farming although other occupations included those of blacksmith, miller, carpenter, shopkeeper, beer seller, teacher and so on. Now there is no shop nor smithy, the school was closed along with the post office and police station. However the parish retains the three staples of life in their thriving community - the church, the pub and the village hall.The Hallifax family
Thomas Hallifax, a London banker, and his family were great benefactors of Shimpling and the surrounding area. They arrived in the early 19th century and purchased many Shimpling properties and farms and lived in Chadacre Hall (built in 1835). Over time they built houses, the school, the schoolhouse, the coal house and made extensive renovations to the church.The Chadacre Hall estate of 2,300 acres, including 22 farms and 54 houses, was finally sold in 1918. The hall later became an agricultural institute which closed in 1989 and was eventually purchased by David Hart
David Hart (UK political activist)
David Hart was a British writer, businessman, and adviser to Margaret Thatcher.-Early life:David Hart was the eldest of the two sons of Anglo-Jewish businessman Louis Albert Hart, the founder of the Henry Ansbacher merchant bank. Hart came from a prominent Anglo-Jewish family which has contributed...
.
The Village School
Thomas Hallifax built this as a girls school in 1841 and thirty years later in 1871 his daughter added the boys section. The school was in use for almost 150 years until it was finally closed in 1989 when the remaining 29 pupils were moved to Lawshall.The Old Post Office
The Shimpling sub post office was opened in 1852 and was eventually closed in the early 1970s. However, the service was at one time moved to a different house in The Street.Governance
Shimpling lies in the BaberghBabergh
Babergh is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council headquarters is based in Hadleigh, whilst its largest town is Sudbury.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Borough of Sudbury, Hadleigh urban district, Cosford Rural District, Melford Rural District and...
district of the shire county of Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. The three tiers of local government are administered by
- Suffolk County CouncilSuffolk County CouncilSuffolk County Council is the administrative authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 72 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions...
- Babergh District Council
- Shimpling Parish Council
Shimpling Parish Council has 7 elected members, the Chairman being Ken Durant. Matters that have been under recent consideration include:
(a) Affordable housing
(b) Village Hall insulation
(c) Children’s play area
In terms of community planning the parish does not currently have a Parish Plan
Parish Plan
Parish plans are a form of community-led plan.Parish plans determine the future of communities and how they can change for the better. They are documents that set out a vision for the future of a parish and outlines how that can be achieved in an action plan.The parish plan process may include:*a...
or Village Design Statement
Village design statement
Village Design Statement is a term of English rural planning practice. A VDS is a document that describes the distinctive characteristics of the locality, and provides design guidance to influence future development and improve the physical qualities of the area...
.
Community Facilities
Church
- St George's Church - From the time of the Domesday book in 1086 a church has stood on this tranquil site. It is approached by an avenue of lime trees from Rectory Lane. Restoration in the 1860s has left its mark on a mainly 14th century church with a 13th century doorway. The church boasts a fine collection of stained glass. This includes the shield of St Edmundsbury, pieces of medieval glass and Henry Holliday's (1839–1927) colourful work of art depicting the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.
Public House
- The Bush Public House - This is a 16th century timbered building which has been a public house since at least 1840 when the landlord was Frederick Vickers. It used to have a thatched roof until the first world war when it was replaced with tiles.
Village Hall
- Shimpling Village Hall - The village hall is the centre of the community's social activities and hosts Parish Council and Women's Institute meetings, plus a range of other events which are managed by the Village Hall committee.
Recreation ground and play facilities
- There is no recreation ground or play facilities in the parish with the exception of a couple of goal posts at Hallifax Place. However the recreation ground at Shimpling Road, LawshallLawshallLawshall is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Located around a mile off the A134 between Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, it is part of Babergh district.-Background:...
is in fairly close proximity.
Planning
In the adopted Babergh Local Plan Alteration No. 2 (2006) the Built-up area boundary is defined for Shimpling Street with no sites allocated for new residential development. Areas of Visual and/or Recreational Amenity are also defined which protect important open space, visually important gaps in the street scene and recreational facilities.Much of the parish south of Shimpling Street is within an area defined as Special Landscape Area. In addition parts of the Sites of Special Scientific Interest detailed below are defined within the parish.
Listed buildings
English HeritageEnglish Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
lists the following listed buildings within the parish of Shimpling.
Grade I
- Church of St George, Rectory Lane - Images of England
Grade II
- 8 and 9 Gents Lane - Images of England
- Almshouses and Primrose Cottage, The Street - Images of England
- Ashton House, The Street - Images of England
- Chadacre Agricultural Institute
- Clock House Farmhouse, Rectory Lane - Images of England
- Court Cottage, The Street - Images of England
- Cromwell House, The Street - Images of England
- Gifford's Hall - Images of England
- Hall Cottages, Lower Street, Somerton - Images of England
- Homeleigh, The Street - Images of England
- Parish Coalhouse, The Street - Images of England
- Principal's House Chadacre Agricultural Institute
- Ramblers, The Street
- Shimpling Hall
- Shimpling House, The Street - Images of England
- Shimpling Place, The Street - Images of England
- Somerton Hall, Lower Street, Somerton
- Thatch End and Cracketts, The Street - Images of England
- The Cottage, Slough Hill - Images of England
- The Hermitage, Bury Road
- Thorne Lodge, Shimpling Road
- Village School, The Street - Images of England
NB: The above property details represent the names and addresses that were used at the time that the buildings were listed. In some instances the name of the building may have changed over the intervening years
Biodiversity
The parish contains parts of two SSSIsSite of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
which are defined as ancient woodlands
Ancient woodland
Ancient woodland is a term used in the United Kingdom to refer specifically to woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England and Wales . Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally...
.
- Frithy and Chadacre Woods SSSI
- Kentwell Woods SSSI
Landscape
Within the Suffolk Landscape Character Assessment the parish of Shimpling is within an area defined as- Undulating ancient farmlands - This is predominantly an area of ‘ancient enclosure’, with an irregular pattern of fields bounded by large, long-established hedges. The settlement pattern is one of dispersed farmsteads and hamlets, scattered between moderately sized green-edge settlements. The area is well stocked with ancient woods of moderate size, usually situated on the tops of the more poorly drained clay hills. In general there are long open views across this undulating landscape in which trees, either in hedges or in woods, are always a prominent feature. The historic pattern of field boundaries has been degraded through 20th century agricultural rationalisation that has resulted in a large number of hedges being removed.
- Ancient rolling farmlands - This is a rolling arable landscape of chalky clays and loams. The enclosure over a lot of the landscape retains much of the organic pattern of ancient and species-rich hedgerows and associated ditches. There are however some areas of field amalgamation and boundary loss, especially on the interfluves between the small valleys. The settlement pattern is dispersed farmsteads of mediaeval origin interspersed with some larger hamlets and occasional villages. The farms are large but are mainly owner-occupied rather than estate owned. The hedgerow trees are of typical clayland composition: oak, ash and field maple, with suckering elm. Although there are some areas of extensive field amalgamation, overall the landscape is largely intact, and accessible thorough a dense network of winding roads with wide verges.
- Rolling valley farmlands - This landscape has small and medium sized fields on the valley sides with an organic form which was created by the piecemeal enclosure of common arable and pasture lands. As with the other valley side landscapes the field size tends to increase on the upper sides and plateaux edges of these valleys. Overall the growth and development of villages and small towns in this landscape has been driven by the quality of the land and the agricultural prosperity that it brought. Ancient woodland is mainly confined to the upper slopes of the valleys and is mostly in relatively small parcels.
Economy
Notable local businesses in the parish of Shimpling include.- Giffords Hall Vineyard & Wines - Giffords Hall is located in the parish of Shimpling near the village of HartestHartestHartest is a small village in the Babergh district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located halfway between Bury St. Edmunds and Sudbury on the B1066 road in the Glem valley...
between Bury St Edmunds and SudburySudbury, SuffolkSudbury is a small, ancient market town in the county of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour, from Colchester and from London.-Early history:...
. They currently have 12 Acres of vines under cultivation with five grape varieties. They also produce wine for retail.
Transport
Shimpling is served by one busBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
service operated by H.C. Chambers & Son
H.C. Chambers & Son
H.C. Chambers & Son or just Chambers is an independent bus and coach operator based in Bures in Suffolk, England. The company operates services over a wide area of Suffolk and Essex, running a fleet of around 30 buses.- History :...
:
- 375: GlemsfordGlemsfordGlemsford is a village in the Babergh district in Suffolk, England, near the town of Sudbury. Glemsford is located near the River Glem and the River Stour also flows nearby...
/ Long MelfordLong MelfordLong Melford is a large village and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour, approximately from Colchester and from Bury St. Edmunds...
- Alpheton - Shimpling - LawshallLawshallLawshall is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Located around a mile off the A134 between Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, it is part of Babergh district.-Background:...
- Hawstead - Bury St Edmunds (sponsored by Suffolk County CouncilSuffolk County CouncilSuffolk County Council is the administrative authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 72 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions...
)
Education
The village is served by All Saint's CEVCP School, Lawshall, a primary school currently catering for pupils aged 5–9.Older children attend Hardwick Middle School and King Edward VI CEVC Upper School in Bury St Edmunds.
Demography
According to the Office for National StatisticsOffice for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Shimpling had a population of 395 with 162 households.
Population change
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Shimpling from 1801 to 1891 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1881 | 1891 | ||
| Population | 441 | 393 | 450 | 496 | 517 | 470 | 491 | 464 | ||
| Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time | ||||||||||
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Shimpling from 1901 to 2001 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 2001 | |||
| Population | 410 | 390 | 381 | 321 | 345 | 329 | 395 | |||
| Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time | ||||||||||
Notable former residents
- David HartDavid Hart (UK political activist)David Hart was a British writer, businessman, and adviser to Margaret Thatcher.-Early life:David Hart was the eldest of the two sons of Anglo-Jewish businessman Louis Albert Hart, the founder of the Henry Ansbacher merchant bank. Hart came from a prominent Anglo-Jewish family which has contributed...
(4 February 1944 — 5 January 2011) - was an adviser to Margaret Thatcher, a British writer and businessman who lived at Chadacre Hall.
Location grid
External links
- Parish Council website
- Shimpling Vision of Britain