East Anglia is a geographical area in the East of England. The area included has varied but the legally defined NUTS 2 statistical unit comprises the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, including the City of Peterborough unitary authority area. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a tribe whose name originated in Anglia, northern Germany.
The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term 'county' is defined in several manners and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each of these demarcation structures. These different types of county each have a more formal name but are commonly referred to just as 'counties'. The current arrangement is the result of incremental reform.
The historic counties of England are areas that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Anglo-Saxons and others. They are alternatively known as ancient counties, traditional counties, former counties or simply as counties. In the centuries that followed their establishment, as well as their administrative function, the counties also helped define local culture and identity. This role continued even after the counties ceased to be used for administration after the creation of administrative counties in 1889, which were themselves amended by further local government reforms in the years following.
Arable land is, according to one definition, land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. In Britain, it was traditionally contrasted with pasturable land such as heaths which could be used for sheep-rearing but not farmland.
The Broads is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The lakes, known as broads, were formed by the flooding of peat workings. The Broads, and some surrounding land, were constituted as a special area with a level of protection similar to a national park by the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988. The Broads Authority, a special statutory authority responsible for managing the area, became operational in 1989.
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is an area of countryside in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of their national importance, by the relevant public body: Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. In place of AONB, Scotland uses the similar national scenic area (NSA) designation. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty enjoy levels of protection from development similar to those of UK national parks, but unlike with national parks the responsible bodies do not have their own planning powers. They also differ from national parks in their more limited opportunities for extensive outdoor recreation.
By the fifth century, the Angles (after whom East Anglia and England are named) had established control of the region. The Angles later became the "north folk" and the "south folk", from which developed the names "Norfolk" and "Suffolk".[3] Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, which later merged with Mercia and then Wessex.
The Angles were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded a number of kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, and their name is the root of the name England. According to Tacitus, before their move to Britain, Angles lived alongside Langobardi and Semnones in historical regions of Schleswig and Holstein, which are today part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein).
The Kingdom of the East Angles, today known as the Kingdom of East Anglia, was a small independent kingdom of the Angles comprising what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom formed in the 6th century in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. It was ruled by the Wuffingas in the 7th and 8th centuries, but fell to Mercia in 794, and was conquered by the Danes in 869, to form part of the Danelaw. It was conquered by Edward the Elder and incorporated into the Kingdom of England in 918.
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The name is a Latinisation of the Old English Mierce or Myrce, meaning "border people". Mercia dominated what would later become England for three centuries, subsequently going into a gradual decline while Wessex eventually conquered and united all the kingdoms into the Kingdom of England.
Ipswich is a historic county town in Suffolk, England, located in East Anglia about 66 miles (106 km) north east of London. The town has been continuously occupied since the Saxon period, and its port has been one of England's most important for the whole of its history. The modern name is derived from the medieval name Gippeswic, likely taken either from an Old Saxon personal name or from an earlier name of the Orwell estuary. It has also been known as Gyppewicus and Yppswyche.
Bury St Edmunds, commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Bury St Edmunds Abbey is near the town centre. Bury is the seat of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich of the Church of England, with the episcopal see at St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect on 1 April 1889, except for the County of London, which came into existence on 21 March at the request of the London County Council.
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974.
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a two-tier arrangement.
Babergh is a local government district in Suffolk, England. Primarily a rural area, Babergh contains two towns of notable size: Sudbury, and Hadleigh, which was the administrative centre until 2017. Its council headquarters, which are shared with neighbouring Mid Suffolk, are now based in Ipswich.
Ipswich Borough Council is the Borough Council that covers Ipswich in Suffolk.
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national government.
The Boundary Committee for England was a statutory committee of the Electoral Commission, an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. The Committee’s aim was to conduct thorough, consultative and robust reviews of local government areas in England, and for its recommendations to be evidence-based, accurate and accepted. The Boundary Committee was abolished in 2010, with its functions assumed by a new Local Government Boundary Commission for England.
Beginning in February 2008, the Boundary Committee again reviewed local government in the county, with two possible options emerging. One was that of splitting Suffolk into two unitary authorities – Ipswich and Felixstowe and Rural Suffolk; and the other, that of creating a single county-wide controlling authority – the "One Suffolk" option.[7] In February 2010, the then-Minister Rosie Winterton announced that no changes would be imposed on the structure of local government in the county as a result of the review, but that the government would be: "asking Suffolk councils and MPs to reach a consensus on what unitary solution they want through a countywide constitutional convention".[8] Following the May 2010 general election, all further moves towards any of the suggested unitary solutions ceased on the instructions of the incoming Coalition government.[9] In 2018 it was determined that Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury would be merged to form a new West Suffolk district,[10] while Waveney and Suffolk Coastal would similarly form a new East Suffolk district.[11] These changes took effect on 1 April 2019.
West Suffolk, like nearby East Cambridgeshire, is 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.[12] Many bronze objects, such as swords, spearheads, arrows, axes, palstaves, knives, daggers, rapiers, armour, decorative equipment (in particular for horses), and fragments of sheet bronze, are entrusted to St. Edmundsbury heritage service, housed at West Stow just outside Bury St. Edmunds. Other finds include traces of cremations and barrows.
In the east of the county is Sutton Hoo, the site of one of England's most significant Anglo-Saxon archaeological finds, a ship burial containing a collection of treasures including a Sword of State, gold and silver bowls, and jewellery and a lyre.[13]
Economy
The majority of agriculture in Suffolk is either arable or mixed. Farm sizes vary from anything around 80 acres (32 hectares) to over 8,000. Soil types vary from heavy clays to light sands. Crops grown include:winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, oilseed rape, winter and spring beans and linseed, although smaller areas of rye and oats can be found growing in areas with lighter soils along with a variety of vegetables.
The continuing importance of agriculture in the county is reflected in the Suffolk Show, which is held annually in May at Ipswich. Although latterly somewhat changed in nature, this remains primarily an agricultural show.[14]
Below is a chart of regional gross value added of Suffolk at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
There are several towns in the county with Ipswich being the largest and most populous. At the time of the 2011 census, a population of 730,000 lived in the county with 133,384 living in Ipswich. The table below shows all towns with over 20,000 inhabitants.
Located in the East of England,[16] much of Suffolk is low-lying, founded on Pleistocenesand and clays. These rocks are relatively unresistant and the coast is eroding rapidly. Coastal defences have been used to protect several towns, but several cliff-top houses have been lost to coastal erosion and others are under threat. The continuing protection of the coastline and the estuaries, including the Blyth, Alde and Deben, has been, and remains, a matter of considerable discussion.[17]
The coastal strip to the East contains an area of heathland known as "The Sandlings" which runs almost the full length of the coastline.[18] Suffolk is also home to nature reserves, such as the RSPB site at Minsmere, and Trimley Marshes, a wetland under the protection of Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
The west of the county lies on more resistant Cretaceouschalk. This chalk is responsible for a sweeping tract of largely downland landscapes that stretches from Dorset in the south west to Dover in the south east and north through East Anglia to the Yorkshire Wolds. The chalk is less easily eroded so forms the only significant hills in the county. The highest point in the county is Great Wood Hill, the highest point of the Newmarket Ridge, near the village of Rede, which reaches 128 metres (420ft).
According to estimates by the Office for National Statistics, the population of Suffolk in 2014 was 738,512, split almost evenly between males and females. Roughly 22% of the population was aged 65 or older, and 90.84% were "White British".[20]
Historically, the county's population has mostly been employed as agricultural workers. An 1835 survey showed Suffolk to have 4,526 occupiers of land employing labourers, 1,121 occupiers not employing labourers, 33,040 labourers employed in agriculture, 676 employed in manufacture, 18,167 employed in retail trade or handicraft, 2,228 'capitalists, bankers etc.', 5,336 labourers (non-agricultural), 4,940 other males aged over 20, 2,032 male servants and 11,483 female servants.[21] The same publication records the total population of the county at 296,304.
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).[citation needed]
Hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood is originally from Suffolk and the influential DJ and radio presenter John Peel made the county his home.[29] Contemporary painter, Maggi Hambling, was born, and resides, in Suffolk. Norah Lofts, author of best-selling historical novels, lived for decades in Bury St. Edmunds where she died and was buried in 1983. Sir Peter Hall the founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company was born in Bury St. Edmunds, and Sir Trevor Nunn the theatre director was born in Ipswich.
King of East Anglia and Christian martyrSt Edmund (after whom the town of Bury St Edmunds is named) was killed by invading Danes in the year 869. St Edmund was the patron saint of England until he was replaced by St George in the 13th century. 2006 saw the failure of a campaign to have St Edmund named as the patron saint of England, but in 2007 he was named patron saint of Suffolk, with St Edmund's Day falling on 20 November. His flag is flown in Suffolk on that day.
Suffolk has a comprehensive education system with fourteen independent schools. Unusually for the UK, some 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 concluded that Suffolk should move to the 2-tier school system used in the majority of the UK.[39] For the purpose of conversion to 2-tier, the 3-tier system has been divided into 4 geographical area groupings and corresponding phases. The first phase was the conversion of schools in Lowestoft and Haverhill in 2011, followed by schools in north and west Suffolk in 2012. The remainder of the changeovers to 2-tier will take place from 2013, for those schools that stay within Local government control, and not become Academies and/or free schools. The majority of schools thus now (2013) operate the more common primary to high school (11–16).[needs update]
Many of the county's upper schools have a sixth form and 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. In 2013, a letter said that "...nearly a fifth of the schools inspected were judged inadequate. This is unacceptable and now means that Suffolk has a higher proportion of pupils educated in inadequate schools than both the regional and national averages."[40]
The Castle Partnership Academy Trust in Haverhill is the county's only All-through Academy Chain. Comprising Castle Manor Academy and Place Farm Primary Academy, the Academy Trust supports all-through education and provides opportunities for young people aged 3 to 18.
The county has one university, with branches spread across different towns. University of Suffolk was, prior to August 2016, known as University Campus Suffolk. Up until it became independent it was a collaboration between the University of Essex and the University of East Anglia which sponsored its formation and validated its degrees.[41][42] UOS accepted its first students in September 2007. Until then Suffolk was one of only four counties in England which did not have a University campus.[41] The University of Suffolk was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in November 2015, and in May 2016 it was awarded University status by the Privy Council and renamed The University of Suffolk on 1 August 2016.[43][44]
The University operates at five sites with its central hub in Ipswich. Others include Lowestoft, Bury St. Edmunds, and Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.[45] The University operates two academic faculties and in 2016/17 had 5,080 students. Some 30% of the student body are classed as mature students and 68% of University students are female.[46]
Culture
Arts
Founded in 1948 by Benjamin Britten, the annual Aldeburgh Festival is one of the UK's major classical music festivals. Originating in Aldeburgh, it has been held at the nearby Snape Maltings since 1967.[47] Since 2006, Henham Park, has been home to the annual Latitude Festival. This mainly open-air festival, which has grown considerably in size and scope, includes popular music, comedy, poetry and literary events. The FolkEast festival is held at Glemham Hall in August[48] and attracts international acoustic, folk and roots musicians whilst also championing local businesses, heritage and crafts. In 2015 it was also home to the first instrumental festival of musical instruments and makers.[49] More recently, LeeStock Music Festival has been held in Sudbury.[50] A celebration of the county, "Suffolk Day", was instigated in 2017.[51]
A TV series about a British antiques dealer, Lovejoy, was filmed in various locations in Suffolk.[64] The reality TV series Space Cadets was filmed in Rendlesham Forest, although the producers fooled participants into believing that they were in Russia.[65] Several towns and villages in the county have been used for location filming of other television programmes and cinema films. These include the BBC Four TV series Detectorists,[66] an episode of Kavanagh QC, and the films Iris andDrowning by Numbers. During 2017 and 2018, a total of £3.8million was spent by film crews in. Suffolk [67]
↑ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Related Research Articles
Forest Heath was a local government district in Suffolk, England. Its council was based in Mildenhall. Other towns in the district included Newmarket. The population of the district at the 2011 Census was 59,748.
Mildenhall is a small market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. The town is near the A11 and is located 37 mi (60 km) north-west of Ipswich, the county town. The large Royal Air Force station, RAF Mildenhall as well as RAF Lakenheath, are located north of the town. The former is used by the United States Air Force, as the headquarters of its 100th Air Refueling Wing and 352nd Special Operations Group.
West Suffolk was an administrative county of England created in 1889 from part of the county of Suffolk. It survived until 1974 when it was rejoined with East Suffolk. Its county town was Bury St Edmunds.
BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Suffolk, commencing broadcasts on 12 April 1990. Its studios are at Broadcasting House in St Matthews Street, Ipswich. The station broadcasts on 95.5, 95.9 (Aldeburgh), 103.9 (Manningtree) and 104.6 FM. In 2004, Radio Suffolk was named Station of the Year in the Sony Radio Academy Awards. It is available in parts of Suffolk on DAB 10C and from Sudbury and Tacolneston television transmitters on Freeview channel 720.
The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, eastern Cambridgeshire, eastern Hertfordshire and north and east London and is a feeder to Division One North of the Isthmian League.
Stowmarket is a small market town in Suffolk, England, on the busy A14 trunk road between Bury St Edmunds to the west and Ipswich to the southeast. The town is on the main railway line between London and Norwich, and lies on the River Gipping, which is joined by its tributary, the River Rat, to the south of the town.
Bury St Edmunds is a constituency in Suffolk centred on the town of Bury St Edmunds that elects a member of parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
West Suffolk is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Matt Hancock, a Conservative. Between 1832 and 1885 there had also been a constituency, the Western Division of Suffolk that had also been called West Suffolk.
The Ipswich–Ely line is a railway line linking East Anglia to the English Midlands via Ely. There is also a branch line to Cambridge. Passenger services are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia. It is a part of Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.07, 05.08 and part of SRS 07.03.
Suffolk County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Suffolk.
The University of Suffolk is a public university in Suffolk, England. The institution was established in 2007 as University Campus Suffolk (UCS); the current name was adopted in 2016 when it was awarded university status.
The East Anglian Daily Times is a British local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich.
West Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk, England, which was established on 1 April 2019, following the merger of the existing Forest Heath district with the borough of St Edmundsbury. The two councils had already had a joint Chief Executive since 2011. At the 2011 census, the two districts had a combined population of 170,756.
↑ "Local Government Act, 1888"(PDF). legislation.gov.uk. Government of Great Britain. Archived(PDF) from the original on 3 December 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
↑ Hall, David (1994). Fenland survey: an essay in landscape and persistence / David Hall and John Coles. London; English Heritage. ISBN1-85074-477-7., p. 81-88
↑ "Sutton Hoo History". nationaltrust.org. The National Trust. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
↑ "The Suffolk Show". suffolkshow.co.uk. Suffolk Show 2015. Archived from the original on 12 November 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
