text: The town has various buildings of the Tudor, Georgian, Regency and Victorian periods, and a tide mill in working order, one of only two in the UK and among the earliest. The mill first recorded on the site in 1170 was run by Augustinian canons. In 1536 it passed to King Henry VIII. In 1564, Queen Elizabeth I granted the mill and the priory to Thomas Seckford, who in 1577 founded Woodbridge School and the Seckford Almshouses for the poor of Woodbridge. Two windmills survive, Buttrum's Mill, and Tricker's Mill, of which Buttrum's is open to the public.
  In 1943, the Royal Air Force (RAF) built a military airfield east of Woodbridge. RAF Woodbridge was used during the Cold War by the United States Air Force as the base for two Tactical Fighter Squadrons until 1993.
  Governance
  Woodbridge lies in the East Suffolk district of the shire county of Suffolk. It is a civil parish; the town council, which is based at Woodbridge Shire Hall, was formed in 1974 as a third-tier successor to the urban district council and has a mayor and 16 councillors elected for four wards. The town is currently represented by the Conservative Therese Coffey in the Suffolk Coastal parliamentary constituency. The county councillor is the Liberal Democrat Caroline Page.
  Education and the arts
  The town has state and grant-aided primary and secondary education at Farlingaye High School, Woodbridge Primary School, Kyson Primary School, and St Mary's Church of England Voluntarily Aided Primary School. The co-educational independent Woodbridge School has junior and senior departments and facilities for boarding.