Great Wratting

Great Wratting is a village and civil parish in England, about four miles from Haverhill, Suffolk, in the valley of the River Stour. There is a ford across the Stour in the centre of the village, where bathing and fishing are common pursuits. The river here is heavily populated by crayfish, a non native species long since escaped from farms near the mouth of the Stour.

The origins of the name of the village are uncertain. There is a Little Wratting nearby, and a West Wratting about ten miles away. On its website, the Great Wratting Parish Council says "the village was known in the Dark Ages as Wraet Ing - Ing meaning ‘place’ and Wraet ‘madder’. The plant Madder was crucial to our ancestors as a dyeing agent, the only real source of the colour red, and it was to Great Wratting early medieval East Anglians would come when they wanted to wear or sell red clothes." Other theories suggest the name originated in the process of candlemaking, where "wratting" refers to part of the process of preparing tallow, or that the name may refer to catching rats.

Wikipedia