Bridge Ward doesn’t have a patron saint, but if we did it would be Saint Ethelreda or as Æthelthryth, whose feast day is today. A royal princess, protege of the superstar Saxon bishop Saint Wilfrid and founder of the abbey at Ely (which became Ely Cathedral), her link to our side of Ipswich stems from the fact that from Saxon time Old Stoke belonged to and was built up by the Abbey at Ely. St. Mary Stoke, or at least the bit that wasn’t built in the Nineteenth Century, was built by the same abbey.
The church that stood in Wherstead Road was dedicated to Saint Ethelreda, and Saint Mary at Stoke still displays a banner for her.
So happy Saint’s day one and all.
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