The Sign
The sign was erected in 1977 to commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee and is made of wrought iron. The sign has three main themes:

The wolf on the right represents the origin of the village name, see below, The church of St Mary in the middle and the rather more interesting story of the "Green Children" on the left.

The legend of the green children of Woolpit concerns two children of unusual skin colour who reportedly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England, some time in the 12th century, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen. The children, brother and sister, were of generally normal appearance except for the green colour of their skin. They spoke in an unknown language, and the only food they would eat was beans. Eventually they learned to eat other food and lost their green pallor, but the boy was sickly and died soon after he and his sister were baptised. The girl adjusted to her new life, but she was considered to be "rather loose and wanton in her conduct". After she learned to speak English, the girl explained that she and her brother had come from St Martin's Land, an underground world whose inhabitants are green (Wikipedia).

 

 

The Name and Population
The village was called Wlpit c.1000, Wlfpeta in the Domesday Book of 1086 and Wulpettas in the 11th century. The name means "The pit for trapping wolves" from Old English. The population at the 2011 census was 1,995.

Other Points of Interest
Records of brick production in Woolpit date back to the 16th century, when Edward Duger and Richard Reynolds both had "brick-kells" (kell being a local word for a kiln). The bricks were very white and Frederic Shoberl suggested they were "equal in beauty to stone". In 1818 he remarked that most of the mansions in Suffolk were built from these bricks.

Ian Lavender from Dad's Army fame resided here.