DEBENHAM, a small town and a parish in Bosmere district, Suffolk. The town stands on the side of a hill, near the source of the river Deben, 7 miles W of Framlingham r. station, and 8 NNE of Needham-Market; and has a post office † under Stonham, two inns, a weekly market on Friday, and a fair on 24 June. The parish comprises 3, 271 acres. Real property, £7, 266. Pop., 1, 488. Houses, 354. The property is much sub-divided. The manor belonged to Butley priory; and passed to the Framlinghams, the Gandys, the Pitts, the Bridges, and others. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £210.* Patron, Lord Henniker. The church is early and later English. There are an Independent chapel, a free school, a mechanics' institute, a police station, and charities £150.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))