New Street
The Area in 1560
Le New Strete was first mentioned in 1549. It had been laid out to provide an alternative route from the Market to the river. A map of the area in 1560 is shown on the right. It is based on the description of the town given in an Extent of the manor of Woodbridge late Priory.
Le New Strete joined Le Mell Waye (now Castle Street and St John’s Hill) which was also referred to as the way to the lord’s mill (the Tide Mill). It ran down to Le Thoroughfare. From there the route to the Tide Mill and the quays was via Le Mell Lane (now Brook Lane). The dots on the map indicate the dwellings and commercial buildings listed in the Extent. The dwellings on New Street were all above the entrance to what is now Castle Street.
The bottom of the valley between the Market and Le Mell Waye was referred to as the Great Fen. The Naverne Brook ran through the middle of the fen and then crossed over New Street just above the junction with Le Mell. This area was appropriately called the The Wash in the seventeenth century. The Naverne then flowed alongside the lower part of New Street before running under the Thoroughfare and carrying on alongside what is now Brook Street and into the marshes by the river. It was not until the 1860s that a drain was installed to carry the Naverne under the lower part of New Street.
What is now called Oak Lane was described variously as a certain little lane leading towards Naverne Brook and a certain lane next to Le Waterynge Pond.
All the buildings lining New Street would have been timber framed. The one with the earliest recorded history is now called the Bridewell. In 1587 it was referred to as being a House of Correction. By 1641 it was also being used as a Hospital or Workhouse for the deserving poor of the town. After the battle of Sole Bay in 1670 the great number of Dutch prisoners who had to be accommodated in the building forced the townspeople to establish a new workhouse on Theatre Street. The New Street building remained as a House of Correction until 1804 when it was converted into a Hospital where the frail poor could live in rent free apartments.
The former Workhouse and House of Correction
before it was given its current red colour wash
Map of the New Street area in 1560. It is based on
an Extent of the manor of Woodbridge late Priory
Changes from 1560 to 1840
The rate of growth of the population of England rose rapidly after 1750 and was greatest in towns and cities because of migration from rural areas. The Poor Rate records for Woodbridge show that, during the period 1742 to 1830, the number of households in the town increased by 184%. The corresponding figure for New Street was even higher at 213%. Most of this growth occurred after 1783. In that year there were 48 families on New Street and by 1830 this had risen to 97.
The 1840 tithe apportionment lists 39 buildings with frontages on the street whereas in 1560 there were only 17. Thirteen of the buildings listed in 1840 were described as cottages. Based on what is left on the site of these cottages today, they would have provided a total of 32 individual dwelling. When this is taken into account the number of dwellings on New Street 1840 rises to 58. A number which is significantly lower than the number of families recorded in the 1830 rate returns. There must have been, therefore, many cases where several families shared the same dwelling.
A simplified version of the 1840 tithe map is shown below. The blue dots mark buildings which were demolished post 1840. The red dots mark the 6 buildings which were found to be wholly or partially timber framed when a survey was conducted in 2004.
The green crosshatched area was the garden of Alexander’s bank (now Barclays) on Church Street. Most of the garden was called The Tanter.
The building (outlined in red) abutting the garden was a maltings. This three storey brick building was owned by John Cobbold as were 7 of the public houses in Woodbridge. Four of them were on New Street including The Fox Inn which is first mentioned in 1617. It is now The Bell and Steelyard. It is not known when the steelyard was erected but it had a long history of being used to weigh loaded wagons on their way from the market to the quays by the river.
The maltings abutted Rosemary Lane which in 1560 was called the lane next to Le Waterynge Pond. The name was eventually changed to Oak Lane because the lane ran behind the Royal Oak Inn on the Thoroughfare.
Simplified version of the 1840 tithe map
White's 1844 trade directory is the earliest detailed record of the commercial activities on New Street. There were 18 shops, 3 merchants, 16 artisans, 4 public houses, 3 people offering personal services (hairdressers) and a bank. Only the Thoroughfare had more commercial activity than New Street.
During the period 1844 to 1985, The Thoroughfare was the only street not to experience a decrease in the number of shops and other commercial outlets along it. New Street went from being the second most commercial street to the fourth in 1985. Since then commercial activity on New Street has continued to decline.
During the 1840s developments started which significantly changed the lower part of New Street. The first step was the building of St John’s Church which was consecrated in 1846. The entrance to Castle Street became known as St John’s Hill and a number of roads were laid out around the church to enable future developments. These roads included St John’s Street and Little St John’s Street which are shown as dotted red lines on the simplified version of the 1840 tithe map.
A line of shops, having dwellings above, were built between the entrances to new streets. Some of the existing dwellings on the opposite side of the road were either improved or rebuilt at the same time. The most notable of the new buildings had a round front. It was between the entrances to St John’s Hill and St John’s Street. Until 1904 it was Alfred Barnes’ showroom for ‘superior second-hand and antique furniture’.
Until 1904 this building, now called the roundhouse, was Alfred Barnes’ showroom for ‘superior second-hand and antique furniture’. It was between the entrances to St John’s Hill and St John’s Street.
The entrance from New Street to the yard of the Bull Hotel has change several times since 1840. At one stage, the building on the other side of the entrance was part of the hotel. In 2005 this building was gutted and converted to flats.
John Grout, the landlord of the Bull Hotel from 1861, was also a horse dealer of world renown. By about 1880 he had purchased two houses and an extensive garden opposite the rear yard of the hotel. He had the site cleared and then used it for a large complex of stables, called the Bull Ride. It was capable of housing up to 170 horses and representatives of both the Kaiser and the Viceroy of India came there to buy horses for the imperial and vice-regal stables. After John Grout died in November 1886 his horse dealing business, and the Bull Hotel, were taken over by William Miles. Ten years later the King of Italy granted William Miles the right to display the Royal Coat of Arms and for many years it proudly adorned the front of the Bull Hotel. Miles died in 1899 and horse dealing business faded away.
The Bull Ride has since been used for a variety of purposes. A telephone exchange was installed in the front part of the Bull Ride in 1902. The service was provided by the United Telephone Service which was taken over by the Post Office in 1912. The Bull Ride has also been used for workshops, as a picture gallery, as a wholesale outlet for arts books and eventually for the sale of antique and second-hand furniture. In 2016 planning permission was granted to convert the Bull Ride into a restaurant.
By 1906 a Masonic lodge had been erected beside the Bull Ride. Most of a malting complex next to this building had been demolished by 1925. The remaining part, which abutted New Street, was eventually cleared to make way for a Co-Operative milk depot which was later replaced by the Co-Operative funeral parlour.
The 1987 Town Centre Plan noted that the funeral parlour “occupies a prominent position but makes no contribution to the quality of the street. Other buildings on the site, although occupied, appear to be in a poor physical condition. It seems reasonable to expect some changes in this area in the next few years”. Yet it was not until 2016 that planning permission to implement such changes was sought and granted.
The interior of the Bull Ride.
The entrance to the Bull Ride. The door to
its left led to the Telephone Exchange
Below the Bell and Steelyard there are four Edwardian semi-detached houses set back from the road. They were built between 1902 and 1926. The buildings that they replaced were described, in the 1844 tithe apportionment, as being cottages and a butcher’s shop.
In 1908 seven almshouses were built in the yard of the Hospital. These almshouses were a bequest from John & William Andrews in memory of their father Jonathon Andrews of London “A former resident, well-known for his good works in his old town." Each almshouse comprised a bed sitting room, a scullery and an external earth closet. They were let to the deserving poor for sixpence a week.
Since 1960 the Almshouses have been managed by the Poor's Houses Charity. This Charity was endowed with various buildings and properties which had been given to the town to help care for the poor. The proceeds from the sale of these assets were used to modernise the almshouse. They now consist of two units having a single bedroom and a unit, and a unit with two bedrooms, which is fully wheelchair accessible. One of the original external earth closets has been conserved for historical interest.
The Country Primary School was built in 1909, on what had been The Tanter, to replace the British and Foreign School on Castle Street. There were two entrances to the school and they were separated by a line of buildings along New Street.
A workshop and cottage, nearly opposite the entrance to the school, were demolished in the 1930s to provide access to an orchard at the rear. Before the Second World War one of the buildings left standing on the site was used for a Lads’ Club. By the 1960s the whole space was occupied by a line of bungalows perpendicular to the road.
The 1971 Town Plan envisaged a Market Hill bypass running down the Naverne valley to a car park on the site of the Country Primary School, which was to be moved to Melton. The threat of these changes, and a proposal to widen New Street, blighted the line of 18th century cottages adjacent to northern edge of The Tanter and many fell into a semi-derelict condition. When the road widening proposal was dropped in 1975 the District Council decided to restore the cottages. The only building to be demolished was a house, which at one time been a sweet shop, at end of the terrace. The vacated site was used for a private parking area and a small courtyard.
The sweet shop at the end of the terrace at the lower part of New Street. The shop was a mecca for the children attending the Primary School.
To the north-east of Rowland's Department Store (later F W Woolworth) on the Thoroughfare there was a extensive range of workshops associated with the store. Most of the latter were demolished in in the 1940s to create Oak Lane Car Park. Access to the car park was via the Thoroughfare. Ownership of the land was land was retained by F W Woolworth and this was later to effect the future development of the car park.
In 1876 the maltings abutting Oak Lane was sold by John Cobbold. In the 1950s and 60s the buildings were used as plumber’s store and a coach builder’s workshop. The buildings were subsequently then taken over by the builder Ingram Smith who moved out in 1971 and sold the property to the Urban District Council. The Council demolished the maltings and used the site to enlarge the Oak Lane car park in 1975. Some cottages just above the entrance to the new car park were removed and replaced by two dwellings with another four behind in Oak Court.
On the other side of New Street a library was built on the site previously occupied by cottages and other buildings built post 1838. During this work it was found that the drain installed in the 1860s to carry the Naverne brook under the road was near to collapse. The drain had been formed by digging a deep channel, covering it by logs, and then putting the road surface on top. During the 1975 redevelopments it was found the road was near to collapse because the logs had rotted.
There is speculation that one of the building demolished to make way for the library was the Jubilee Hall. It was built between 1881 and 1904 and it was on the other side of a passageway which is alongside the Salvation Army Hall.
In 2001 Suffolk County Council and Greystoke and Everleigh Ltd. unveiled a scheme to relocate Woodbridge Primary School and Woodbridge Library. The school would be moved a site at the bottom of Pytches Road and a new library would be created in part of the old school. The new school and library would be funded by the developers who, in return, would have the remaining land on which to build 23 houses and a medical/health facilities for the surgery in Little St John's Street.
Opposition to the proposal came from Woodbridge residents who were mainly concern about (i) the loss trade because parents would no longer use the local shops when delivering or collecting their children and (ii) the visual impact of the new residential build on the surrounding area.
Opposition from Melton residents were in the main based on the belief that the sale of some of the designated plot for residential development had reduced the viability of the site for a school and on concerns about (i) the impact of traffic delivering and collecting children from school and (ii) the lack of adequate footpaths along Pytches Road. Supporters accepted that (i) it was not economically viable to bring the old school up to modern standards, that (ii) the majority of pupils attending the school were from Bury Hill area, and (iii) that pedestrian access from that area to the old school was inadequate. After several public consultations a formal planning application was submitted in January 2004 and was approved in July of that year.
Shortly after work started on the new development, F W Woolworth exercised their right to build on that part of the Oak Lane Car Park which belonged to them. Soon after they were granted planning permission to erect a three-story building with basement car park, to provide three retail units and 14 one-bed residential units.
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Last Edited 2 Sept 2023