Stradbroke is an English village in the Mid Suffolk district of the county of Suffolk. The Census of 2011 gave Stradbroke parish a population of 1,408, with an estimate of 1,513 in 2018.
Heritage
The village was listed in the Domesday Book of 1096 as being in the Bishop's Hundred, which was later renamed Hoxne Hundred. During the Middle Ages and in local documents as late as the early 19th century, the name of the village was sometimes spelt Stradbrook. A prominent medieval philosopher Robert Grosseteste, also Bishop of Lincoln, was born in Stradbroke in about 1175. Its parish church of All Saints, with a 15th-century tower and a raised stair turret, dominates the village as a local landmark. In October 2014 the state primary school marked the 150th anniversary of its predecessor's opening on 28 September 1864. The village used to host a Navy Day on the last Saturday in July. This mourned the end of the Royal Navy's rum ration in July 1970, and as part of the celebrations a tot of rum was taken in procession round the village. The last such Navy Day was held in 2007.
Amenities
Stradbroke's position as a centre for many smaller villages and hamlets means has more facilities than its population might suggest. It serves as a centre for education for Mid Suffolk. There is a primary school and a high school in the village. There are two pubs, several shops, and other local services that include a public library, a community centre, a swimming pool and a gym. It has a playing field for cricket and football, three tennis courts and two bowling greens. There is also a fitness track. The village includes some 12 miles of public footpaths, maintained by local government twice or three times a year. Near the community centre there is a doctor's surgery and a play area for young children. At Westhall there is another play area and a recreation ground for informal games. The village post office reopened in 2014 in the local library, housed in the historic courthouse building. The previous post office in a shop had closed. Library staff work on both the post office and library counters. The village shop was refurbished in 2014. There is also a bakery, a butcher's shop, a wedding shop, and an antiques centre and cafe. In 2012 a six-acre field was purchased on Drapers Hill and 28 allotment gardens created, together with a community orchard and wild flower meadow. A pond was donated at the top of the site, overlooked by donated public seats. There are views of the Church towards the centre of the village. Stradbroke has a free magazine: The Stradbroke Monthly. It also has an online community radio station, Radio Stradbroke. It has held a now-annual "Stradisphere Music Festival" since 2014, which works in partnership with charities such as Help For Heroes and music-related charities in Suffolk and Norfolk.
Communications
Stradbroke lies midway between Norwich and Ipswich on the B1117 and B1118 secondary roads. It is a short driving distance from the coastal towns of Southwold and Aldeburgh. Stradbroke is 7 miles/11.3 km from the small Suffolk town of Eye and 9 miles/14.5 km from the larger Norfolk market town of Diss, which is an hour and a half by train from London. There are bus services linking Stradbroke to surrounding towns.
Notable people
In birth order:
Robert Grosseteste, scholar and Bishop of Lincoln, was born in Stradbroke.
