Discover wartime archaeology in & around Wickham Market Suffolk

Military History, Memorials & More

Situated so close to the England’s East Coast and WWII USAAF airfields, Wickham Market is a Suffolk village with many wartime tales to tell. In World War II, local great houses at nearby Glevering, Campsea Ashe, Rendlesham and Ufford were requestioned for army camps. Convoys passed relentlessly alongside the village’s Market Hill, with tanks and transporters regularly knocking off the corner of buildings on the narrow streets!

Like communities across England, Wickham Market both loved – and lost – as it proudly played its part in safeguarding the nation, its own, and others – including wartime refugees from home and overseas. But those times and lives are never forgotten. Formal memorials; blue plaques; shared memory walls in The George community pub; reams of documents in the Wickham Market Area Archive & Resource Centre; concrete reminders, dotted around the countryside… Take a moment to step out, step back and remember.

Nelson stayed here (probably!)

Wickham Market has played a role in more than just 20th century manoeuvres. A key staging post for centuries, it has long history of providing accommodation or ‘billets’ for military folk.

Cromwell’s soldiers, were reputedly billeted at The Crown (now the dentist on Market Hill) and George Inns (1640s)
Lord Horatio Nelson, allegedly stopped over at The White Hart (late 1700s)
Wounded soldiers from the Battle of Waterloo, were welcomed here (1815). Did that maybe later influence the naming of/ Waterloo Terrace’ on High Street?
Female WWI soldier, Flora Sandes lived in nearby Marlesford. Awarded the King George Star, she was the only British woman to officially fight on the front line in WWI.

More than memorials

The Wickham Market War Memorial sits on the corner of Chapel Lane / High Street. A wartime underground bunker from the Royal Observer Corps – sealed off, but nevertheless still in situ – is located nearby. In All Saints’ Church, the British Legion supported the creation of a memorial chapel in the southern aisle in 1939.

The Royal British Legion Club (former Town Hall) , was hugely popular during WWII with soldiers from local camps and bases. It operated a canteen and was home to concerts and dances. To this day, the RBL Club remains very much part of community life.

Parish Church RBL Club

A welcome sanctuary

The former redbrick Plomesgate Workhouse has been converted to comfortable houses over recent years. As WWII loomed on the British horizon, young refugees were able to call home. Today, a blue plaque recalls: “1938-1939 – At the Old Workhouse nearly 100 Basque children found sanctuary from the Spanish Civil War. They were supported by local organisations and volunteers.” Troops were later billeted there.

The day WWII broke out, 30 expectant mothers and babies were brought to the village from East London. Children and teachers from schools in Essex had already arrived two days earlier. Wickham Market escaped the bombs until 1942 when properties near The George were destroyed. Memory walls in the The George Community Pub, share the stories.

The George

Camps, tanks & airfields

A country footpath walk from Wickham Market to Framlingham is a great way to make all sorts of wartime discoveries. Walk along ‘Tank Lane’ (remains of WWII tank parks), across Glevering Hall ‘camp’, edge a wartime airfield and wonder at how the historic ‘Moat Hall’ at Parham escaped the path of its extensive reach.

Walks & Trails

WWII Airfields & more

Don’t miss Parham Airfield Museum – just 4 miles from Wickham Market – to learn about wartime ‘Flying Fortresses’ and Britain’s ‘Secret Army’. The original airfield control tower makes up part of the 390th Bomb Group (H) Memorial Museum and adjacent buildings house the British Resistance Organisation Museum. Both free museums are full of fascinating artefacts as well as reconstructions.

Look out for wartime archaeology on your East Suffolk travels too – anti-glider trenches near Sutton Hoo’s burial mounds or on Blaxhall Common; concrete pill box gun emplacements; WWI and WWII training grounds around Westleton and Dunwich heaths.

Plan your visit

Cold War reminders & invasion threats of a different kind

Cycle or drive from Wickham Market to Orford, where haunting buildings line the shingle spit. Now an awesome nature reserve, Orfordness was once a top secret military testing site.

You’ll find more chilling encounters in Rendlesham near Wickham Market too. 16 rooms of exhibits await at the Bentwaters Cold War Museum at a former US command post … and in the nearby forest UFOs were sighted by American airbase personnel in the 1980s. Take the Rendlesham Forest UFO trail on foot or bike, to follow the story around the forest sites.

Cycle Rides Forest Trails Villages Info