Belstead

In John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Vol. I, p.151 (1870) Belstead is described like this: <blockquote>BELSTEAD, a parish in Samford district, Suffolk; near the Eastern Union railway, 3½ miles SW of Ipswich. Post Town, Ipswich. Acres, 1,022. Real property, £1,849. Pop., 292. Houses, 57. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £370.* Patron, the Rev. E. J. Lockwood. The church is tolerable; and there is an Independent chapel.</blockquote> The Ipswich Hoard was found near Belstead in 1968. It is now in the British Museum, but there are copies of the gold torcs in the Ipswich Museum.

The Bridge School is situated 1.9 miles from Belstead on Sprites Lane. The school is a special school for children aged between three and sixteen years which have severe, profound and complex learning difficulties. The school aims to create a supportive learning environment and to allow their pupils to learn through their achievements. The Ofsted inspection of the school which was carried out in January 2015 gave the school a ‘good’ rating overall.