Nacton
St Martin's church, Nacton
Nacton Location within Suffolk
Population	757 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	TM220403
District	East Suffolk
Shire county	Suffolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	IPSWICH
Postcode district	IP10
List of places UK England Suffolk 52°01′01″N 1°13′59″E / 52.017°N 1.233°E / 52.017; 1.233

Nacton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The parish is bounded by the neighbouring parishes of Levington to the east and Bucklesham in the north. It is located between the towns of Ipswich and Felixstowe.

Nacton abuts the River Orwell opposite the village of Pin Mill. Riverside features covered by this parish are (from east to west) Buttermans Bay, Potter's Point, Downham Reach, Mulberry Middle and Pond Oose.

Nacton parish is the mother for the villages of Levington and Bucklesham and was sufficiently large to have a workhouse, on the remains of which a substantial house was built.^[2] This was used by Amberfield School as its main building until it closed in 2011. The more adventurous explorer can find the old burial ground opposite the entrance to a lane leading down to the school. The site of Alnesbourne Priory is close to Nacton.^[3]

The village contains one of the few remaining active wildfowl decoys left in East Anglia.

History

The name means Hnaki or Nokkvi's homestead.^[4] In 1010 Ulfcytel, Ealdorman of East Anglia, fought the Danes in the area now called Seven Hills (there were more than seven barrows at one time) which is now mostly under junction 58 of the A14.

A country house in the parish, Broke Hall, was the seat of the Broke family, including Admiral Sir Philip Broke.

A former public house, the Anchor, appears to have been closed in controversial circumstances during the late 19th century.^[5]

From 1877 to 1959 the village was served by the Orwell station.^[4]

Notable inhabitants

• Margaret Catchpole, who became legendary in the 19th century after the publication of 'The History of Margaret Catchpole: A Suffolk Girl' by Richard Cobbold in 1845. It is a classic story of young girl falling in love with a villain (a smuggler called Will Laud) and suffering the consequences. She stole her employer's horse and rode to London to be with Laud. She was convicted of theft and sentenced to death, but managed to escape. She was recaptured and transported to Australia for life.
• Edward Vernon, a naval hero.
• George Tomline, a politician

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches north east to Waldringfield and at the 2011 census had a population of 4,602.^[6]

Orwell Park Observatory

An observatory, which had been commissioned at Orwell Park by Colonel George Tomline (1813-1889) has been in use as the base of the Orwell Astronomical Society, Ipswich (OASI) from the 1960s.^[7][8]

In popular culture

Nacton's name was used as a word coined by Douglas Adams to describe the letter 'N' when inserted between two other words as an abbreviation for 'and', as in rock 'n' roll and fish 'n' chips.^[9]