NACTON : VILLAGE HISTORY 2

  HOUSE OF INDUSTRY TO AMBERFIELD SCHOOL.

  1757 : House of Industry ( workhouse ) built for 350 paupers of the village.

  1881 : 125 people are reported to still be in living the "poorhouse".

  1886 : Workhouse closes and occupants moved to Ipswich.

  1952 : Becomes Amberfield School.

    MARGARET CATCHPOLE ( 1762- 1819 )

  Another famous or infamous person to be born in Nacton was Margaret Catchpole, who was sentenced to death for horse stealing.

She rode the horse 70 miles to London to help her smuggler boyfriend Will Laud.

  ( It took two days due to hold ups on the A12. )

Margaret escaped from Ipswich jail, was recaptured and then had her sentenced

reduced to deportation to Australia, thanks to pressure from the Cobbold family,

who owned the stolen horse.

In Australia, Margaret Catchpole became a mid-wife and married a rich settler.

They bought a general store in Hawkesley and had three children, all of whom

came to England to be educated and lived for the rest of their lives.

She also became well known for saving a number of children in a flood and had a road was named after her : Catchpole Avenue".

The local link survives also with the "MARGARET CATCHPOLE " public house

in Cliff Lane, Ipswich.

  1803 : STEEPLECHASE : The first ever recorded "Steeplechase", took place

  between the Ipswich Barracks and Nacton Church.

  A group of young army boys raced at midnight from the Racecourse in

  Ipswich to the "steeple" of Nacton church.

  Although, Nacton Church doesn't have a steeple, the towers of Suffolk

  churches were always called " steeples" in those days.

  Now, over 200 years later, the word " steeplechase" is used extensively

  in horse racing circles.

    "THE ANCHOR" PUBLIC HOUSE

  The original village pub, "THE ANCHOR ", was in the centre of the village, next to

  the school.

  It was closed during the 1914 - 18 war in rather controversial circumstances.

  The nearest public houses now ,are THE SHIP at Levington and the SHEPARD

  and DOG on the old felixstowe road.

  LEONARD CRAWLEY ( 1903 - 1981 )

 Possibly the most famous cricketer to be born in Nacton ( excluding members

 of the current Nacton team ), was LEONARD CRAWLEY.

 He was a professional cricketer who spent part of his career at Worcestershire , and then spent the last ten years ( 1926-36 ) with Essex.

 In all LEONARD CRAWLEY scored 5,227 first class runs at an average of 31.1.