Village sign update

Bildeston is having a new Village Sign, which will be erected at the junction of High Street and Ipswich Road. Unfortunately, due to Covid 19, the manufacture of the sign has been delayed.

Therefore, whilst awaiting the new sign it has been decided to commemorate an event that took place almost two thousand years ago in AD60, which involved Queen Boudicca the warrior Queen leading the British Celtic Iceni Tribe. This tribe defeated the Romans at Camulodunum (Colchester) and also at Londinium (London) who had captured Southern England under the orders of Emperor Nero. However, this was only possible after a failed assassination attempt on her life as she passed through Bildeston, when a Roman spy by the name of Laro Flipo attempted to drag her off her horse and stab her to death. Fortunately her bodyguard soldiers managed to overpower him and hold him captive.

Due to this upheaval they decided to camp for the night in Bildeston, and the following morning it was decided to hang Laro Flipo. Gallows were hastily erected in the vicinity of the High Street and Ipswich Road and the hanging took place of the Roman Spy. There is a possibility this was also the origin of Death’s Builders and Undertakers which occupied the site on that junction until recent times!

Whilst awaiting the new village sign it has been decided to erect a temporary set of gallows with a plaque near the junction to commemorate this historic event. For health and safety reasons the gallows will be constructed with balsa wood (which has been donated) so that they cannot be put into practical use.

As a footnote, Boudicca and her army were finally defeated by the Romans led by the Roman Governor of Britain Galius Suetonilis Paulinus in 61AD at what is known as Watling Street in the West Midlands. Her memorial below, by the Thames, faces Suffolk.