Great Finborough is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England; about south west of Stowmarket and near one of the sources of the River Gipping. It has two schools, a pub and an active church. In 2001 the parish had a population of 755, increasing to 808 at the 2011 Census
Public Transport
Route 461 bus service operated by Beeston's connects Finborough with Sudbury, Bildeston and Stowmarket on Tuesday and Thursday only.
Schools
Great Finborough has a Primary School, Great Finborough CEVC Primary School, founded in 1873. The original buildings, to which two new classrooms were added in 2000. The school's catchment area includes Great Finborough and the neighbouring village of Buxhall; places are offered first to children from the two villages and then to others from beyond the catchment area up to the school's intake limit. The primary school is a feeder for Stowmarket High School, to which pupils transfer at the age of 11. The independent school Finborough School is also located in the village. About 250 pupils attend the school, which includes Nursery, Pre-Prep, Prep School, Senior School and Sixth Form.
Inside St Andrew's church the side chapel is filled with monuments dedicated to the Wollaston family who played a big part in the Finborough Estate. They owned the Estate for a century and there are monuments dedicated to nearly all the family members. The Pettiward family also played a big role, they took control of the estate after the Wollaston's and owned it until the mid 1930s. The connection with the Pettiward family meant that it gave its name to Finborough Road in Earls Court, London, developed as part of the Pettiward Estate and later the Finborough Theatre.
Bog Race
The Bog Race is a key part of village life. It happens on Easter Monday every year. It is a battle between Haughley and Great Finborough. The race starts at the pub, The Chestnut Horse, where 15 or so men from Haughley and Great Finborough get considerably drunk and are taken to a nearby farm, Boyton Hall, where they have to race over the fields, about a mile, to get to the pub with the scroll. The first man at the pub with the scroll wins and is declared the winner over-all and then, that village has won for that year.
Notable people
William Skrene, a prominent judge became Lord of the Manor of Great Finborough in circa 1390.
John Green Crosse, surgeon, was born at Boyton Hall, near Great Finborough.
John Peel, radio broadcaster, lived in a cottage nicknamed "Peel Acres" in the village from the 1970s, in which many of his shows were produced. His body was buried in the graveyard of St Andrew's Church.
William Wollaston, Enlightenment philosopher and author of The Religion of Nature Delineated, lived at Finborough Hall.
