Editing Beccles (section)

==History==

The place-name 'Beccles' is first attested in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086, where it appears as ‘Becles’, located in the ancient [[Hundred_(county_division)|hundred]] of [[Wangford Hundred|Wangford]].<ref>[https://opendomesday.org/place/TM4290/beccles/ Open Domesday: Beccles]. Accessed 22 December 2024.</ref> It appears as ‘Beacles’ circa 1095 in a document from [[Bury St Edmunds Abbey]], and as ‘Beclis’ in 1157 and ‘Becclis’ in 1158 in the [[Pipe Rolls]]. The name is probably from the [[Old English]] ‘bec-laes’ meaning ‘pasture on the stream’, cognate with the German word ‘Bach’ meaning ‘stream’, and the English word ‘lea’ meaning ‘meadow’.<ref>[[Eilert Ekwall]], ‘The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names’, p.33.</ref>

Once a flourishing [[Angles (tribe)|Anglian]] riverport, Beccles lies in the [[River Waveney|Waveney]] valley and is a popular boating centre.

The town was first granted its [[Charter]] on 2 July 1584 by [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], under the name of the Corporation of Beccles Fen. This was subsequently confirmed by [[James VI and I|James I]] on 19 May 1605.<ref name="H&A Suff">{{cite book |title=The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: Volume 1. |publisher=W. S. Cowell |location=Ipswich |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/suffolk-history-antiquities/vol1/pp1-35}}</ref>

[[John Leman|Sir John Leman]] (died 1632) was a tradesman from Beccles who became [[Lord Mayor of London]].

Long associated with Beccles (including recent mayors) is the Peck family.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EakHAAAAQAAJ&q=%22robert+peck%22+beccles&pg=PA25 |title=An account of the corporation of Beccles Fen, with a tr. of their charter ... – Beccles Fen |access-date=30 April 2015|year=1826 |last1=Fen |first1=Beccles }}</ref> Among those Pecks who have made a place in history is the Rev. Robert Peck,<ref>{{acad|id=PK598R2|name=Peck, Robert}}</ref> described by Blomfield in his history of Norfolk as a man with a 'violent schismatic spirit' who led a movement within the church of St Andrew's in nearby [[Hingham, Norfolk]], in opposition to the established Anglicanism of the day.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wIgAAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22robert+peck%22+beccles&pg=PA194 ''The Nonconformist's Memorial: Being An Account of the Ministers, Who Were Ejected or Silenced After the Restoration''], [[Samuel Palmer (biographer)|Samuel Palmer]], London, 1775.</ref> The Puritan Peck was eventually forced to flee to [[Hingham, Massachusetts]], founded by many members of his parish, where he resided for several years, until King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] had been executed and [[Oliver Cromwell]] had taken the reins of government.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2ElTqsiebMC&q=%22rev+robert+peck%22+beccles+hingham&pg=PA107 |title=History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts |access-date=30 April 2015|year=1893 |location=Hingham, Mass.}}</ref> Robert Peck then elected to return to Hingham, Norfolk, and resumed as rector of St Andrew's Church. He died in Hingham but left descendants in America, including his brother Joseph Peck, who settled in [[Rehoboth, Massachusetts]]. Robert's daughter Ann Peck (16 November 1619 – 30 June 1672) also remained in Massachusetts, and married [[John Mason (c. 1600–1672)|John Mason]], who led colonial forces in the [[Pequot War]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u1_YBp_mnkMC&q=seaconk+gillman+pecke&pg=PA29 |title=A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Joseph Peck: Who Emigrated with ... – Ira Ballou Peck |access-date=30 April 2015|last1=Peck |first1=Ira Ballou |year=1868 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdxdH4HoSVcC&q=%22rev+robert+peck%22+beccles+hingham&pg=PA329 |title=Old Houses of the Antient Town of Norwich [Conn.&#93; 1660–1800 – Mary Elizabeth Perkins |access-date=30 April 2015|last1=Perkins |first1=Mary Elizabeth |year=1895 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mason|first=John|title=A Brief History of the Pequot War|date=1736|publisher=printed and sold by S. Kneeland and T. Green|location=Boston|url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofpe00maso}}</ref>

In 1794, French émigré [[François-René de Chateaubriand]] worked in Beccles as a French teacher. While there, he fell in love with Charlotte Ives, daughter of a clergyman who lived in nearby [[Bungay]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/chateaubriandhis00grib/mode/2up|title=Chateaubriand and his court of women|first=Francis|last=Gribble|publisher=Chapman and Hall Ltd|location=London|date=1909|page=51-56}}</ref>

Under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]] the borough was reformed which became part of the administrative county of [[East Suffolk (county)|East Suffolk]] in 1889, the district contained the parish of Beccles.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10025552|title=Relationships and changes Beccles MB through time|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=10 September 2024}}</ref> On 1 April 1974 the district and parish were abolished and became part of [[Waveney District|Waveney]] district in the [[non-metropolitan county]] of Suffolk.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1972/2039/schedule/part/35/made|title=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|publisher=[[legislation.gov.uk]]|accessdate=10 September 2024}}</ref> A [[successor parish]] was formed covering the same area as the former district and its parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1973/1110/made|title=The Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973|publisher=legislation.gov.uk|accessdate=10 September 2024}}</ref> The successor civil parish has adopted town status.