Claydon, Suffolk

Claydon is a village just north of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. In 2011, 2197 people lived there. The name means "clay-on-the-hill".

The village gave its name to the hundred of Bosmere and Claydon, one of the 21 old districts used to divide Suffolk for local government between Saxon times and the Victorian period.

Geography
The area around Claydon is has small hills and is next to the River Gipping. The village is near where the A14 and the B1113 roads meet. The railway line from Ipswich to Ely runs between the A14 and the B1113 (which used to be called the A45).

Amenities
The village has two pubs called The Crown and The Greyhound. There is also a bakery and a sandwich shop named Freshfills, a post office, a fish and chip shop, a hotel, a hairdresser, a car dealer and a travel agency. Claydon has a primary school and Claydon High School. Buses run often from the centre of the village to Ipswich, Bramford and Stowmarket.

At the top of the hill on Church Lane is the Church of St Peter. The church has been party repaired and is one of the few churches in Suffolk built before the Norman period. Inside, it has a wooden fan-shaped ceiling.

Some villages near Claydon include Barham, Bramford, Great Blakenham and the hamlet of Akenham.

Former fuel storage depot
Around 1939, an Air Force fuel depot was built by Shell-Mex & BP for the Air Ministry. Fuel was brought in by train and sent out by road tankers. In the 1970s, two new sites were built with modern tanks and pump houses. The depot was linked to the Government Pipeline and Storage System and supplied fuel to RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge. The old wartime site was sold in the mid-2000s and later knocked down. The two newer sites are no longer in use.Tim Whittle: Fuelling the Wars - PLUTO and the Secret Pipeline Network 1936 to 2015 published 2017 p210. 
References

External links
 Church of St Peter
 Claydon Pub History

Category:Villages in Suffolk
Category:Mid Suffolk District
Category:Civil parishes in Suffolk
Category:Bosmere and Claydon Hundred