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Monks Eleigh from across the valley in Suffolk - Winter scene
- (Click photograph above to go to first slide)
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You can tell a
great deal about the origin of an English town by the ending of
its name. By the time the Normans arrived in 1066, almost
every modern English town already had its name, and today
you can get an indication of who settled the town (or re-settled
it) based on the ending of the name. Names that end in
-ham
are Anglo-Saxon; "ham" is Old English for "settlement"
(examples: Durham, Clapham). Other Anglo-Saxon endings:
ing
(Reading), stowe
(Felixstowe), stead
(Hampstead) and ton
(Kingston).
In Old Danish, the
-by ending indicated a farm,
so Whitby and Derby are Viking towns. Other Danish names:
thorpe
(Scunthorpe), toft,
a plot of land (Lowestoft) and
scale,
a hut or shelter (Windscale).
If you're interested to
understand the naming of the counties and regions
better here's an interesting observation from
Historical Atlas about
three old Saxon names, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex
(East, South and West).
After the Roman evacuation of Britain in the early
fifth century began the Celtic inhabitants started to employ
Germanic mercenaries to defend themselves. These
later seized power and initiated a migration of
Germanic peoples to Britain which would wipe out,
displace or assimilate the Celtic population. The
start of the Germanic invasion has traditionally
been dated to AD 449 and it comprised mainly of
three tribes, namely Saxons, Angles and Jutes. These
tribes eventually formed several Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms of which the more long-lasting, and thus
more famous, were the so called Heptarchy. The
oldest kingdom was Kent, where the Jutes settled
(they also created a kingdom on the Isle of Wight
which was conquered by Wessex). The Saxons are
associated with three kingdoms called Wessex
(West Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons) and Essex (East
Saxons). The Angles from whom England is named after
are said to have formed the kingdoms of Mercia, East
Anglia and Northumbria |
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Click on thumbnail
photograph to go to
that photograph in the
slide show.
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The Medieval Market Town of Lavenham
January 2008
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| Lavenham was a thriving centre of
the English wool trade during the Middle Ages , and many
of Lavenham's historic buildings were built by the
prosperous wool merchants. |
| Ornate
signpost on the outskirts of Lavenham |
The
crooked house |
The
Greyhound Pub |
The Swan
Hotel |
A collection of medieval and Tudor
architecture. |
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More architecture |
| Entrance
to village square |
The
Guild Hall |
The Small Hall |
The Angel Hotel |
The Bar
at The Angel |
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One of the Dining rooms at the
Angle |
Sloping
bedroom walls at The Angel |
View from bedroom at The Angel |
The church of St. Peter and
St. Paul
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Buildings surrounding the Village Square |
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Residential Street in Clare |
The Bell - Clare |
Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul |
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The County of Suffolk abounds in
historical and beautiful towns and villages. Of the
smaller towns Clare has a deeply fascinating history and
the kind of timeless beauty which can only evolve over
many centuries.
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Beautiful and historic towns and villages well
worth visiting: Bury St Edmunds, Sudbury,
Newmarket, Lavenham, Cavendish, Long Melford, and
Clare, each in its own way unique | |
Constable Country - Flatford and Long Melford
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The ever changing coastline of Aldeburgh
Centuries
ago before the Romans arrived, there was more than a mile of
land between the sea and where Aldeburgh stands today. Ever
since there has been considerable erosion along much of the
coastline of Suffolk.
Compared
with today, a map from the 16tyh century shows Aldeburgh to
have had an extensive beach running parallel to the shore. A
century later, tax returns show that many of these houses
were empty due to the threat of erosion.
The
coastline north of Aldeburgh has also changed over the
centuries, but in this case land has been gained. Up
until the 19th century there was a large tidal
inletbetween Aldeburgh and Thorpness known as Thorpe
Haven or The Meare. It was protected from the open sea
by a long spit of shingle and was used by boats to
shelter from stormy seas.
Eventually
the mouth of the Haven silted up and a large expanse of
water remained until it was drained to create farmland. The
area now forms a large part of The Haven and North Warren
nature reserves.
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