- Screen Colours:
- Normal
- Black & Yellow
Purdis Farm is a parish situated between Ipswich, Foxhall, Nacton and Rushmere St Andrew in Suffolk.
It contains the new development at Warren Heath, the Suffolk Agricultural Association Showground, the Ipswich Golf Club and Purdis Heath.
The name is thought to be derived from the ancient church of St Petronilla (long since gone). Purdis Farm encompasses Warren Heath a modern housing development. On part of this is the remains of an 8th-12th century settlement. In the early 20th Century, Purdis Farm was part of the Broke Hall Estate.
In the period around 1925, Captain Saumarez, the then owner, sold parts of the Broke Hall Estate in the areas of the Parishes of Ipswich, Rushmere, Purdis Farm, Foxhall, Alnesbourn Priory, Nacton and St Clements. Approximately 1483 acres was disposed of, this containing some 10 dwellings and farms. (Source: Henry Connell, deeds for 102 Bucklesham Road).
In 1926 the new owners of Broke Hall Estate agreed to sell 217 acres of freehold land, part of Black Heath as it was then called to Ipswich Golf Club, the based at Rushmere Heath. The Club gave the area the name Purdis Heath. The new course was formally opened on Saturday, 15th October 1927. In 1954 and again in 1957 the Golf Club sold off parcels of land along their Bucklesham Road frontage for housing development. The decoy ponds on the golf course have a long history dating from the 17th Century. They are recorded in the "Saumarez Family Archive Vol 3" with leases dated 27th April 1646 of the "tenement called Purdeys" to (1) Dame Marie Brooke (sic) of Ipswich, widow of Sir Richard Broke Kt, Robert Broke of Nacton Easq and (2) Thomas Mantlyn of Ipswich, poulterer and William Fedyman of Ipswich, clothworker. A small four roomed house, Decoy Cottage (demolished in the early 90s) was the home of the decoymen and gamekeepers.
Adjacent to the golf course is an area of heath (Purdis Heath) listed by English Nature as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.