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The first inhabitants of the area we now call Suffolk were hunters and food-gatherers who arrived during a warm phase of the Ice Age, probably around 400,000 B.C. This was the beginning of the Old Stone Age or Palaeolithic which was about 40 times longer than the rest of human history. As the Ice Age contained many warmer phases, each 20-30,000 ...
The county of Suffolk (Sudfole, Suthfolc, meaning 'southern folk') was formed from the south part of the kingdom of East Anglia which had been settled by the Angles in the latter half of the 5th century. The most important Anglo-Saxon settlements appear to have been made at Sudbury and Ipswich. Before the end of the Norman dynasty, strongholds ...
Suffolk's story goes back over half a million years. One of the earliest human occupation sites yet discovered in Britain lies on the east coast, at Pakefield. Many other finds have been made in the county's farmland, as well as on the coastal heathlands and in the brecks and fens in the west of the county. The Institute is interested in all ...
- Monasticism
- Manorial Society in The High Middle Ages
- Markets, Fairs and Towns
The French-Normans greatly stimulated the growth of religious orders and their ‘houses’. Suffolk shared in this growth, though the early dominance of Bury abbey undoubtedly restricted the development of rival institutions. The main effect, therefore, was a considerable number of relatively small foundations, especially in the eastern half of the co...
In the 13th century Suffolk reached the height of its early importance and prosperity. It had, by medieval standards, a dense and growing population which exerted great pressure on the land and also gave, for some at least, new economic opportunities. Landlords and major tenants responded to the increased demand for food and to rising agricultural ...
The early Middle Ages saw a rapid expansion in various forms of industry and commerce, and the consequent foundation of scores of local markets. This ‘Commercial Revolution’ was not entirely new as urban life had undoubtedly developed significantly in the later Saxon period. At the time of the French-Norman Conquest/Crusade, Domesday Book recorded ...
Amateur archaeologist Basil Brown famously made the discovery of a lifetime back in 1939, when he brushed away the Suffolk soil and revealed the richest intact early medieval grave in Europe. More than a grave, it was a spectacular funerary monument on an epic scale: a 27m (88.6ft) long ship with a burial chamber full of dazzling riches.
Georgian Suffolk, 1710-1800 This period, between two very stormy ones, is not so obviously dominated by great national events nor, at a local level, is it particularly well-documented. It does, however, present opportunities of looking at how people actually lived, how local institutions worked and how new economic trends were beginning to change society.
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A film that 'brings the story to life'. The Netflix film is based upon the 2008 novel The Dig by John Preston. He was inspired by his aunt Peggy Piggott, played by Lily James, who was an ...
