Suffolk
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums

Its name referring to the ‘South Folk’ in the Kingdom of East Anglia, Suffolk is home to one of England’s most important early medieval sites, the 7th-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo. Likely because of its associations with the Early Middle Ages, Suffolk is also now home to the West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village, a reconstruction of an early medieval settlement. The county nevertheless also has much heritage stemming from later parts of the Middle Ages, when Suffolk was part of the English state. Among the most impressive high and late medieval sites in the county are Orford Castle and Framlingham Castle, while religious sites from this period include the ruins of Leiston Abbey and Bury St Edmunds Abbey, as well as Lindsey St. James’s Chapel, which survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries by being transformed into a barn. Evidence for the Suffolk coast’s long-lasting role in England’s defence can be seen at the 18th-century Landguard Fort.