Post Office Directory of 1865.
Willisham is a small village and parish, in Bosmere and Claydon
hundred and union, Ipswich county court district, and Norwich diocese, East
Suffolk, 3 miles west from Claydon station, 7 � north-west from Ipswich, and 4
south-by-west from Needham Market. The church of St Mary is a plain structure,
in the Norman style. The living is a perpetual curacy, annual value �56, in the
patronage of the Rev E B Sparke, and held by the Rev George Alexander Paske,
M.A., of Needham Market. The principal landowners are the Rev E B Sparke, Rev
augustus Cooper, Charles Schrieber, and William Boby esquires. The chief crops
are wheat and beans. The soil is clayey. The Rev E B Sparke is the lord of the
manor and impropriator of the tithes, commuted at �142 10s. The charities of the
parish amount to �5 2s per annum. The population of the parish in 1861 was 186,
and the number of acres is 927, principally arable.
Parish clerk, John Holder
Letters through Needham Market & Stowmarket. The nearest money order office is
at Needham Market.
Boby William, esq. Willisham hall
Archer Edmund, beer retailer.& lime burner
Grimwood John, bricklayer
Haggar Seth, rake maker
Hardwick Joseph, farmer & rake maker
Harper John, farmer, Crow hall
Wellham Robert, farmer & bricklayer
Wise Charles, Shoulder of Mutton, & shopkeeper