Suffolk

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Covers an area of 1,466 square miles (3,797 sq. Km) and is situated in the East Anglia region of England. It is a large traditional and administrative county which 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. The population is around 700,000. Between 1981 and 2001 the population of the county grew by 13%, due largely to migration rather than natural increase.

Geography

The county is low-lying with few hills, and is largely wetland habitat and arable land. The Suffolk Broads area is part of The Broads National Park, and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Much of Suffolk is low-lying on Eocene sand and clays. These rocks are relatively soft 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 128m (420ft).

Industry

Agriculture is the primary economic activity; products include grains, sugar beets, fruits, and vegetables. Also important are livestock raising and fishing, notably at the seaport of Lowestoft.

History

Suffolk was part of the kingdom of East Anglia which was settled by the Angles in the 5th century. The name original designated the "South Folk" of the Kingdom. The kingdom was destroyed by the Vikings in 869 when they overran the country and killed the young King Edmund. The famous Sutton Hoo burial mound is found in Suffolk. During the Middle Ages Suffolk was a prosperous wool-manufacturing centre. There is archaeological evidence of Mesolithic man as far back as c.7000BC,

Popular Towns

and other important towns are Ipswich Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds.