WALTON, a parish, with a village, in Woodbridge district, Suffolk; 3½ miles NW of Harwich r. station. It has a post-office‡. under Ipswich, and a ferry across the Orwell to Harwich. Acres, 1,988. Real property, £5,663. Pop., 988. Houses, 225. The manor belongs to the Duke of Hamilton. Orwell House and Coldham are chief residences. W. Castle stood on a sea-cliff; dated from the time of the Romans; was rebuilt by R. Bigod, and ruined by Henry II.; and suffered gradual undermining and eventual extinction by the sea. Roman coins, urns, rings, and other relics have been found. A Benedictine priory, a cell to Rochester abbey, was founded here by R. Bigod; and went, after the dissolution, to successively Cardinal Wolsey, the Duke of Norfolk, and T. Leckford. The living is a vicarage, united with Felixstow, in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £290.* Patron, Mrs. Wilkinson. The church is early English. There is a national school.

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