Great Wratting Ford
Great Wratting a tiny village which is situated on the Essex Suffolk border, which has the River Stour running through it, and is now also our home. One of Three Wrattings, West, Great and Little, Great Wratting, taken from the Saxon word ‘Wraet’ a type of plant and ‘Ing’ Place, in previous times it was known as ‘Warrting’, ‘Wratting Magna’, ‘Vratinga’ or ‘Waracatinge’, there has been a village in existence and it is recorded in Domesday book in 1086.
On the village sign above the water depicts the river Stour, the flowers are wortweed, one theory of the name of "Wratting", and the plough, the symbol of agriculture.
Wratting (Great & Little) was a settlement in the domesday book, and had a combined 41 households, which put it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in the 100 under Risbridge as part of Suffolk, and is listed under 4 owners.
The first "farmers" were named ‘Ailbern’ and ‘Goda’, who kept, ‘Cobs, Cattle, Pigs, sheep and Beehives’, and this is also recorded in the Domesday book. William the conqueror granted the manors of ‘Wratting Magna’ (Great Wratting) and ‘Wratting Parva’ (Little Wratting) to a Norman Knight Richard Fitzgilbert, which was known as the ‘Honour of Clare’.
The lands were exploited to the fullest for rents from huge manors to numerous smallholdings, he had a total of 272 freemen and 44 sokemen in Suffolk.
Reference to Great and Little Wratting is made in the Domesday book below,
https://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/great-and-little-wratting/
There has been a place of worship on the site of St Marys since Saxon times, and the first official mention is again in the Domesday book, the current structure appears to be mainly from the 13th Century and it was last restored in 1887 by W.H Smith who was Lord of the Manor in nearby Thurlow Hall.
Part of the Nave is Saxon, the Chancel is 13th century, the tower is 13th and early 14th century, and on the walls leading up to the belfry are medieval graffiti, the windows are 14th and 15th century.
Great Wratting filmed from Little Wratting Church, looking across towards Coronation Cottages and down into the Valley, Blunts Hall Farm in its current form and undergoing many changes in recent years with a solar farm now being installed on recently demolished parts of the factory.