Everything about Suffolk totally explained
Suffolk is a
non-metropolitan county of
historic origin in
East Anglia,
England. It has borders with
Norfolk to the north,
Cambridgeshire to the west and
Essex to the south. The
North Sea lies to the east. The
county town is
Ipswich, at and other important towns include
Lowestoft and
Bury St Edmunds.
Felixstowe is one of the largest
container ports in Europe.
The county is low-lying with few hills, and is largely
wetland habitat and
arable land with the wetlands of
The Broads in the North. The
Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
History
Suffolk was part of the
kingdom of East Anglia which was settled by the
Angles in the 5th century.
Suffolk was divided into separate
Quarter Sessions divisions. These were originally four in number, reduced to two in 1860: the eastern division being administered from
Ipswich and the western from
Bury St Edmunds. The two divisions were made separate administrative counties as
East Suffolk and
West Suffolk under the
Local Government Act 1888, with Ipswich becoming a
county borough.
Under the
Local Government Act 1972, East Suffolk, West Suffolk and Ipswich were merged to form a unified county of Suffolk on
April 1,
1974. This was divided into several
local government districts:
Babergh,
Forest Heath,
Ipswich,
Mid Suffolk,
St. Edmundsbury,
Suffolk Coastal,
Waveney. This also saw a further part of land near
Great Yarmouth become part of Norfolk. As introduced into Parliament, the Local Government Bill would have included
Newmarket and
Haverhill into Cambridgeshire, with it being compensated by the inclusion of
Colchester from
Essex: these proposals were ultimately decided against.
The
Department for Communities and Local Government has referred
Ipswich Borough Council's bid to become a new unitary authority to the
Boundary Committee. The Boundary Committee will report back by the end of the year.
West Suffolk is, like nearby
East Cambridgeshire, renowned for
archaeological finds from the
Stone Age, the
Bronze Age and the
Iron Age. Bronze Age artefacts have been found in the area between
Mildenhall and
West Row, in
Eriswell and in
Lakenheath.
Many bronze objects, such as swords, spear-heads, arrows, axes,
palstaves, knives, daggers, rapiers, armour, decorative equipment (in particular for horses) and fragments of sheet bronze, are entrusted to the Moyse's Hall Museum in
Bury St Edmunds. Other finds include traces of
cremations and
barrows.
Economy
The majority of
agriculture in Suffolk is either arable or mixed. Farm sizes vary from anything around 80 acres to over 8,000. Soil types vary from heavy clays through to light sands. Crops grown include winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, oil seed rape, winter and spring beans and linseed, although smaller areas of rye and oats can be found in lighter areas along with a variety of vegetables.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Suffolk at current basic prices
published
(pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year |
Regional Gross Value Added |
Agriculture |
Industry |
Services |
| 1995 |
7,113 |
391 |
2,449 |
4,273 |
| 2000 |
8,096 |
259 |
2,589 |
5,248 |
| 2003 |
9,456 |
270 |
2,602 |
6,583 |
» See also:
Well-known companies in Suffolk are
Greene King and
Branston Pickle in Bury St Edmunds.
Birds Eye have their largest UK factory in Lowestoft, where all their meat products and frozen vegetables come from.
Huntley & Palmers biscuit company are now in Sudbury. The UK
horse racing industry is based in Newmarket. There are two
USAF bases in the west of the county close to the A11.
Sizewell B nuclear power station is at
Sizewell on the coast near
Leiston.
Bernard Matthews have some processing units in the county, specifically
Holton.
Southwold is the home of
Adnams Brewery.
Felixstowe is an important port.
BT has its main research and development facility at
Martlesham.
Geology, landscape and ecology
Much of Suffolk is low-lying on
Eocene sand and
clays. These rocks are relatively
unresistant and on the coast are
eroded rapidly.
Coastal defences have been used to protect several towns, but several cliff-top houses have been lost to coastal erosion in the past.
The west of the county lies on more resistant
Cretaceous Chalk. This chalk is the north-eastern extreme of the
Southern England Chalk Formation that stretches from
Dorset in the south west to
Dover in the south east. The Chalk is less easily eroded so forms the only significant hills in the county. The highest point of the county is
Great Wood Hill, the highest point of the
Newmarket Ridge, near the village of Rede which reaches 128
m (420
ft).
Demographics
The
Census 2001 Suffolk recorded a
population of 668,548. Between 1981 and 2001 the population of the county grew by 13%, with the district of
Mid Suffolk growing fastest at 25%. The population growth is due largely to
migration rather than natural increase. There is a very low population between the ages of 15 and 29 as the county has few large towns and institutions of higher education, though the 15-to-29 population in Ipswich is average. There is a larger population over the age of 35, and a larger than average retired population.
Most English counties have nicknames for people from that county, such as a
Tyke from
Yorkshire and a
Yellowbelly from
Lincolnshire; the traditional nickname for people from Suffolk is 'Suffolk Fair-Maids', or 'Silly Suffolk', referring respectively to the supposed beauty of its female inhabitants in the Middle Ages, and to the long history of Christianity in the county and its many fine churches (from Anglo-Saxon
selige, originally meaning holy).
Cities, towns and villages
The agreed-upon number of established communities in Suffolk varies greatly because of the large number of the all but non-existent hamlets which may consist of just a single farm and a deconsecrated church: remnants of wealthy communities, some dating back to the early days of the Christian era. Suffolk encompasses one of the most ancient regions of the UK: A monastery in
Bury St. Edmunds founded in 630AD, plotting of
Magna Carta in 1215; the oldest documented structural element of a still inhabited dwelling in Britain found in
Clare.
This comparatively recent evidence is but a coda to the widespread settlement in the region shown by earlier archaeological evidence of Mesolithic man as far back as c.7000BC, (
Grimes Graves, Norfolk - a 5000 y/o flint mine) with Roman settlements
Lakenheath,
Long Melford, later Bronze and Saxon settlements.
Sutton Hoo: burial ground of the Anglo-Saxon pagan kings of East Anglia.
» For a full list of settlements see the List of places in Suffolk.
Notable people from Suffolk
» See also:
In the arts, Suffolk is noted for having been the home to two of England's best regarded
painters,
Thomas Gainsborough and
John Constable - the Stour Valley area is branded as "Constable Country" - and one of its most noted
composers,
Benjamin Britten. Other artists of note from Suffolk include the
cartoonist Carl Giles (a bronze statue of his character "Grandma" to commemorate this is located in
Ipswich town centre),
poet Robert Bloomfield,
writer and
editor Ronald Blythe, actors
Ralph Fiennes and
Bob Hoskins, musician and
record producer Brian Eno and
Dani Filth, singer of the Suffolk-based
black metal group,
Cradle of Filth.
Hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood is originally from Suffolk and the influential
DJ and
radio presenter John Peel made the county his home.
Suffolk's contributions to sport include
Formula 1 magnate
Bernie Ecclestone and
England footballers
Terry Butcher,
Kieron Dyer and
Matthew Upson. Due to
Newmarket being the centre of British
horseracing many
jockeys have settled in the county, including
Lester Piggott and
Frankie Dettori.
Significant ecclesiastical figures from Suffolk include former
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Simon Sudbury, James Duncan, Richard Clark, John Gilhooly, King of East Anglia and Christian martyr
St Edmund (after whom the town of
Bury St Edmunds is named),
Tudor Catholic cardinal Thomas Wolsey, and author, poet and Benedictine monk
John Lydgate
Other significant persons from Suffolk include the
Suffragette,
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, captain of
HMS Beagle,
Robert FitzRoy, Witch-finder General
Matthew Hopkins and both Britain's first female
physician and
mayor,
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.
Charity leader
Sue Ryder settled in Suffolk and based her charity in
Cavendish.
Education
Primary and Secondary
See also List of schools in Suffolk
Suffolk has a
comprehensive education system with fourteen
independent schools. Unusually for the UK, most of Suffolk has a 3-tier school system in place with
Primary Schools (ages 5-9),
Middle Schools (ages 9-13) and Upper Schools (ages 13-16). However, a 2006 Suffolk County Council study has concluded that Suffolk should move to the 2-tier school system used in the majority of the UK. The exception to this is in the Ipswich district and some in the districts of Suffolk Coastal, Mid Suffolk, and Babergh where the more common have 11-16 age schools are in place. All of the county's Upper schools have a
sixth form as there are no specific sixth form colleges (though most
further education colleges in the county offer
A-level courses). In terms of school population, Suffolk's individual schools are large with the Ipswich district with the largest school population and Forest Heath the smallest, with just two schools.
Tertiary
University Campus Suffolk, a collaboration between the
University of Essex, the
University of East Anglia, partner colleges and local government, began accepting its first students in September 2007. The main Ipswich based waterfront campus building is due for completion in September 2008 . Prior to this Suffolk was one of the few English counties not to contain a University campus.
Sport
Football
The county's sole professional
football club is
Ipswich Town. Formed in 1878, the club were
Football League champions in
1961–62,
FA Cup winners in
1977–78 and
UEFA Cup winners in
1980–81. Ipswich Town currently play in the
Football League Championship - the next highest ranked teams in Suffolk are
Bury Town and
A.F.C. Sudbury of the
Isthmian League Division One North.
Horse racing
The town of
Newmarket is the is the headquarters of
British horseracing - home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country, many key horse racing organisations and
Newmarket Racecourse.
Point to point racing takes place at
Higham and
Ampton.
Speedway
Speedway racing has been staged in Suffolk since at least the 1950s, following the construction of the
Foxhall Stadium, just outside Ipswich, home of the
Ipswich Witches. The Witches are currently members of the
Speedway Elite League, the UK's top division.
Speedway Premier League team
Mildenhall Fen Tigers are also from Suffolk.
Suffolk in popular culture
A TV series about a British antiques dealer,
Lovejoy, was filmed in various locations in Suffolk. The
reality TV Series
Space Cadets was filmed in
Rendlesham Forest, although the producers pretended to the participants that they were in
Russia.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Suffolk'.
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