Old, and Some New, Photographs of Woodbridge & Melton
When entering Market Hill from Church Street the first building that draws your attention is the imposing Shire Hall. It was commissioned by Thomas Seckford, a senior legal officer, who accompanied Elizabeth I on her progresses around the country. It is thus not surprising that he was made Steward of the Liberty of St Etheldreda. This Liberty was part of Suffolk where the legal system was controlled by Ely Abbey.
When Ely Abbey was dissolved in 1539 the legal system of its Liberty was incorporated into the national one but it continued to have its own quarter sessions, coroner and gaol. The quarter sessions had been held at a number of places but when Thomas Seckford was appointed Steward he decided they should always be held at Woodbridge. To this end, in 1575, he arranged for the erection of the building variously known as the Sessions House, Shire Hall or Town Hall, in the Market Place. The upper floor was used for Quarter Sessions of the Liberty of St Etheldreda while the lower part, which then had open arches rather than windows, was used as a covered market. Other market stalls and animal pens continued to be laid out around the rest of the Market Place. The Liberty's gaol remained in Melton.
A house on Market Hill, which abutted Church Street, was purchased and demolished, in 1884, by the US Naval Captain William Mann of Philadelphia. He demolished the house gave the land on which it stood to the town. He also gave the town £50 to turn the land into a public garden, in memory of his father who was had lived here. In 1885 plans were made "to rail it off and plant evergreens within the enclosure".
Two years later a statue of Queen Victoria was placed in the garden to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. After the First World War the small garden around the statue was seen as the obvious place to erect a memorial in memory of those men who made the supreme sacrifice for King and country. The statue of Queen Victoria was relocated to the lower corner of the garden to make way for the Memorial which was dedicated on 11th November 1920.
