Great Finborough
The Sign
The main feature of the sign is of a chestnut tree where people can sit and dream their dreams with a couple approaching holding hands to do exactly that. The wheatsheaf in the centre represents agriculture in the area. The sign is made of wrought iron.
The Name and Population
The population was 808 at the 2011 census. The village was called Fineberga in the Domesday Book. The name means "Woodpecker Hill" from Old English and Anglian.
Other Points of Interest
John Peel (1939–2004), 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.
The Bogg race takes place on Easter Monday and starts at the The Chestnut Horse Pub on the green, where 15 or so men from Haughley and Great Finborough 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. The origins of the race lie back in the late nineteenth century when the farmer at Boyton Hall sacked his workmen and took on a team from Haughley instead; when both sets of men turned up for the job they needed a way of deciding who would be employed and the race was born.