AMPTON, a parish in Thingoe district, Suffolk; 5 miles N of Bury St. Edmunds r. station. It has a post office under Bury St. Edmunds. Acres, 736. Real property, £910. Pop., 131. Houses, 28. Ampton Hall, the seat of H. Rodwell, Esq., is a large brick edifice, in a spacious park. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, £172.* Patron, Hun. Rodwell, Esq. The church is a plain brick building, with a stone tower, and has a brass. Charities, Calthorpes' school, almshouses., £440.
In 1887, John Bartholomew also wrote an entry on Ampton in the Gazetteer of the British Isles with a much shorter description:[10]
Ampton, par. and seat, W. Suffolk, 5 miles N. of Bury St Edmunds, 736 ac., pop. 97; P.O.
A Grade II-listedJacobean stylemanor house built in 1892 on the site of the previous hall. The main residence of the Ampton estate which owns 700 acre park and a large majority of the housing in the area.
Ampton Charities
School
Ampton Charity School Trust was established by James Calthorpe (1649–1702) in 1692 for the education of six poor boys of Ampton and the neighbouring parishes.[11][12] The Old School House, dated 1705, is a Grade II listed building a bears a plaque commemorating its principal benefactor in a Latin inscription.[13]
By 1844 the school was part of the National Schools system.[11]
Almshouses
In her will dated 18 May 1693 Dorothy Calthorpe left £1,000 for the construction of almshouses in the village for "six poor old widows or old maids"[14][15]
^Michelle M. Dowd & Julie A. Eckerle (2011) The Devotional Writings of Dorothy Calthorpe, ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 24:1-2, 89-98, DOI: 10.1080/0895769X.2011.540539