[6] Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy FRS, the scientist who achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, was born in the village.
In 1870–1872, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the village as:[9] AMPTON, a parish in Thingoe district, Suffolk; 5 miles N of Bury St. Edmunds r. station.
97; P.O.A Grade II-listed Jacobean style manor house built in 1892 on the site of the previous hall.
The main residence of the Ampton estate which owns 700 acre park and a large majority of the housing in the area.
[11][12] The Old School House, dated 1705, is a Grade II listed building a bears a plaque commemorating its principal benefactor in a Latin inscription.
[11] In her will dated 18 May 1693 Dorothy Calthorpe left £1,000 for the construction of almshouses in the village for "six poor old widows or old maids"[14][15]