Welcome to Elmswell History Group

Welcome to our website – please make yourself at home and enjoy exploring our many pages.

Our village has plenty of history, the earliest part of which is described in our publication “Marker for the Millennium” (click onto this link to see it in full).  

Our history group exists to make this information known more widely and also, with our monthly talks, to learn more about East Anglia’s history in general.  


We hope you will consider coming to a meeting, as we are a very friendly group, and always offer a warm welcome to visitors and new members.  

Our current programme of talks and events is shown below.

We would love to hear from you, whether you are interested in local history generally (particularly if you are a current or former Elmswell resident and/or have any connections to our village), helping us with our researches, thinking of joining our group, or have comments or suggestions about this website.

Please click this link to contact us.

2026 Programme

Unless otherwise stated, our meetings begin at 7.30pm (doors open at 6.45pm) and held at the Wesley Hall, School Road, Elmswell, IP30 9EE – where there is ample free on-site car parking and at adjacent Tavern.

Admission: £4 Members, £6 Visitors, £2 under-18s – cash or cheque only (sorry, no cards)

8 January 2026: Members’ Evening. Threeshort talks, being a selection of members’ own researches, i.e. “Growing up on the Ickworth Estate”, “The History of Postcards”, and “Memories of 1950-60s Woolpit”.   Due to cold and icy weather conditions, this was postponed to 12th February – see below.

12 February: Members’ Evening. Three short talks, being a selection of members’ own researches, i.e. “Growing up on the Ickworth Estate”, “The History of Postcards”, and “Memories of 1950-60s Woolpit”.  

12 March: Roy Clare, “Suffolk Connections with Charles Darwin’s Voyage on the Beagle”

9 April: Mark Lawrence, “Hadleigh Guildhall“

14 May: Richard Brice of The Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company,

“Project to Construct a Replica (full-size) Anglo-Saxon Longboat” – buried in the 7th century, re-born in the 21st.

11 June: 7pm, AGM, then at 7.30pm, Terry O’Donoghue’s talk, “History of West Suffolk Hospital“.    

SATURDAY, 11 July: 2-4pm – Exhibition on “History of English Women’s Football since WW1“.

10 September: Annual subs due – £12pp (Sept-June) to join or re-join as Member & £4 at each attendance (£16 on first visit), or £6pp as a non-member Visitor. As we cannot take debit/credit cards, exact cash or cheque (payable to “Elmswell History Group”) would be much appreciated.

8 October: Grant Bage, “Ipswich Football Legend, Sir Alf Ramsey” 

12 November: Taff Gillingham (renowned local Military Historian), “Suffolk Regiment’s POWs in WW2“

10 December: Katie Howson, Singer & Musician: “All Aboard the Charabanc!” – Traditional music in Suffolk pubs. Local musician and historian, Katie, will introduce us to an older generation of singers and musicians from Mid Suffolk who made their own entertainment in the pubs in times gone by. Come and join a virtual tour of local pubs and find out more about who sang old songs such as The Iron Door or naughty ditties such as The Ball of Yarn, who played the Yarmouth Hornpipe, or the Jenny Lind polka? Who swapped a tray of eggs for a dancing doll? Plenty of familiar local names such as Sparks (with or without the e!), Stearn and Stebbings in this lively presentation which includes slides, live music and archive recordings. Katie and her late husband John are well-known in the region for their collecting and performance of local traditional songs and music, and for founding the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust which Katie ran until retirement in 2017. All this will be followed by seasonal refreshments.

Latest Updates

World War 1 Book For Sale

Read the Synopsis here