Capel St. Andrew can hardly be referred to as a village as there are no facilities whatsoever – however, it does cover many acres but would probably be better referred to as a hamlet. The boundaries stretch from Capel green, which is at the bottom of a long straight road off the road from Woodbridge to Orford, locally known as the Clumps, half way down the RAF Woodbridge runway, along the forest line down to the river Tang bridge where the border runs along the road to another bridge roughly a mile from the cross roads.

Although the controversial landing of the much disputed UFO is always referred to as having landed in Rendlesham it really came down in Capel St Andrew’s trees.

Roughly seventy-five per cent of the forty houses in Capel St Andrew are owned by the local land owner, and ten are privately owned. Four houses have been razed to the ground at Capel Green and in the past a gentleman named Harry Firth lived in a hut on the common ground at the Green. One of the houses on the Green took a direct hit from a German doodlebug during World War II but fortunately for the owner it did not explode and the story is told that he continued eating his breakfast totally unperturbed when it knocked the side of his house in.

Historically Capel had a Church which stood at the crossroads. It was demolished in 1539. The graveyard was on the opposite side of the road to the Church in a field which is referred to locally as Brickles. Bricks were made from clay dug from a local pit as there is a vein of London clay running through the area.

To celebrate the millennium the villagers of Capel raised enough money to have an unusual village sign erected near the crossroads. This has attracted much interest from passers by (see attached photograph).

In the past local people were mostly employed on the land but due to mechanisation inhabitants now have to look further afield for employment.

Public transport is poor but most householders have cars so it would be uneconomic for the bus company to run a more frequent service.

GRETA CUTMORE, (SEPTEMBER 2005)