France). For modern accounts see especially W. Stubbs, Constitutional History (favourable), The Political History of England (1906), vol. iv., by C. Oman (unfavourable), and G. du Fresne de Beaucourt’s Histoire de Charles VII. See also H. A. Napier’s Historical Notices of Swincombe and Ewelme (1858). (C. L. K.)
SUFFOLK, an eastern county of England, bounded N. by Norfolk, E. by the North Sea, S. by Essex and W. by Cambridgeshire. The area is 1488.6 sq. m. The surface is as a whole but slightly undulating. In the extreme north-west near Mildenhall, a small area of the Fen district is included. This is bordered by a low range of chalk hills extending from Haverhill northwards along the western boundary, and thence by Bury St Edmunds to Thetford. The coast-line has a length of about 62 m., and is comparatively regular, the bays being generally shallow and the headlands rounded and only slightly prominent. The estuaries of the Deben, Orwell and Stour, however, are between 10 and 12 m. in length. The shore is generally low and marshy, with occasional clay and sand cliffs. It includes, in the declivity on which Old Lowestoft stands, the most easterly point of English land. Like the Norfolk coast, this shore has suffered greatly from incursions of the sea, the demolition of the ancient port of Dunwich (q.v.) forming the most noteworthy example. The principal seaside resorts are Lowestoft, Southwold, Aldeburgh and Felixstowe. The rivers flowing northward are the Lark, in the north-west corner, which passes in a north-westerly direction to the Great Ouse in Norfolk; the Little Ouse or Brandon, also a tributary of the Great Ouse, flowing by Thetford and Brandon and forming part of the northern boundary of the county; and the Waveney, which rises in Norfolk and forms the northern boundary of Suffolk from Palgrave till it falls into the mouth of the Yare at Yarmouth. The Waveney is navigable from Bungay, and by means of Oulton Broad also communicates with the sea at Lowestoft. The rivers flowing in a south-easterly direction to the North Sea are the Blyth; the Alde or Ore, which has a course for nearly 10 m. parallel to the seashore; the Deben, from Debenham, flowing past Woodbridge, up to which it is navigable; the Orwell or Gipping, which becomes navigable at Stowmarket, whence it flows past Needham Market and Ipswich; and the Stour, which forms nearly the whole southern boundary of the county, receiving the Brett, which flows past Lavenham and Hadleigh; it is navigable from Sudbury. At the union of its estuary with that of the Orwell is the important port of Harwich (in Essex). The county has no valuable minerals. Flints are worked, as they have been from pre-historic times; a considerable quantity of clay is raised and lime and whiting are obtained in various districts.
Geology.—The principal geological formations are the Chalk and the Tertiary deposits. The former occupies the surface, except where covered by superficial drift, in the central and north-west portions of the county, and it extends beneath the Tertiaries in the south-east and east. In the extreme north-west round Mildenhall the Chalk borders a tract of fen land in a range oflow hills from Haverhill by Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds to Thetford. The Chalk is quarried near Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Mildenhall and elsewhere; at Brandon the chalk flints for gun-locks and building have been exploited from early times. The Tertiary formations include Thanet sand, seen near Sudbury; and Reading Beds and London Clay which extend from Sudbury through Hadleigh, Ipswich, Woodbridge and thence beneath younger deposits to the extreme north-east of the county. Above the Eocene formations lie the Pliocene “Crags,” which in the north overlap the Eocene boundary on to the chalk. The oldest of the crag deposits is the Coralline Crag, pale sandy and marly beds with many fossils; this is best exposed west and north of Aldeburgh and about Sudbourne and Orford. Resting upon the Coralline beds, or upon other formations in their absence, is the Red Crag, a familiar feature above the London Clay in the cliffs at Felixstowe and Baudsey, where many fossils used to be found; inland it appears at Bentley, Stutton and Chillesford, where the “Scrobicularia Clay" and Chillesford beds of Prestwich appear above it. The last-named beds probably correspond with the Norwich Crag, the name given to the upper, paler portion of the Red Crag, together with certain higher beds in the north part of east Suffolk. The Norwich Crag is visible at Dunwich, Bavent, Easton and Wangford. In the north the Cromer Forest beds, gravels with fresh-water fossils and mammalian remains, may be seen on the coast at Corton and Pakefield. Between the top of the London Clay and the base of the Crags is the “Suffolk Bone Bed” with abundant mammalian bones and phosphatic nodules. Glacial gravel, sand and chalky boulder clay are scattered over much of the county, generally forming stiffer soils in the west and lighter sandy soils in the east. Pebble gravels occur at Westleton and Halesworth, and later gravels, with palaeolithic implements, at Hoxne; while old river-gravels of still later date border the present river valleys. The chalk and gault have been penetrated by a boring at Stutton, revealing a hard palaeozoic slaty rock at the depth of about 1000 ft.
Agriculture.—Suffolk is one of the most fertile counties in England. In the 18th century it was famed for its dairy products. The high prices of grain during the wars of the French Revolution led to the extensive breaking up of its pastures, and it is now one of the principal grain-growing counties in England. There is considerable variety of soils, and consequently in modes of farming in different parts of the county. Along the sea-coast a sandy loam or thin sandy soil prevails, covered in some places with the heath on which large quantities of sheep are fed, interspersed with tracts, more or less marshy, on which cattle are grazed. The best land adjoins the rivers, and consists of a rich sandy loam, with patches of lighter and easier soil. In the south-west and the centre is much finer grain-land having mostly a clay subsoil, but not so tenacious as the clay in Essex. In climate Suffolk is one of the driest of the English counties; thus, the mean annual rainfall at Bury St Edmunds is rather less than 24 in. Towards the north-west the soil is generally poor, consisting partly of sand on chalk, and partly of peat and open heath. Some four-fifths of the total area of the county is under cultivation. Barley, oats and wheat are the most important of the grain crops. The breed of horses known as Suffolk punches is one of the most valued for agricultural purposes in England. The breed of cattle native to the county is a polled variety, on the improvement of which great pains have been bestowed. The old Suffolk cows, famous for their great milking qualities, were of various colours, yellow predominating. The improved are all red. Much milk is sent to London, Yarmouth, &c. Many cattle, mostly imported from Ireland, are grazed in the winter. The sheep are nearly all of the black faced improved Suffolk breed, a cross between the old Norfolk horned sheep and Southdowns. The breed of pigs most common is small and black.
Manufactures and Trade.—The county is essentially agricultural, and the most important manufactures relate to this branch of industry. They include that of agricultural implements, especially at Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, and that of artificial manures at Ipswich and Stowmarket, for which coprolites are dug. Malting is extensively carried on throughout the county. There are chemical and gun-cotton manufactories at Stowmarket and gun flints are still made at Brandon. At other towns small miscellaneous manufactures are carried on, including silk, cotton, linen, woollen, and horsehair and coco-nut matting. The principal ports are Lowestoft, Southwold, Aldeburgh, Woodbridge and Ipswich. Lowestoft is the chief fishing town. Herrings and mackerel are the fish most abundant on the coasts.
Communications.—The main line of the Great Eastern railway, entering the county from the south, serves Ipswich and Stowmarket, continuing north into Norfolk. The east Suffolk branch from Ipswich serves Woodbridge, Saxmundham. Halesworth, and Beccles, with branches to Felixstowe, to Framlingham, to Aldeburgh, and to Lowestoft; while the Southwold Light railway connects with that town from Halesworth. The other principal branches are those from Stowmarket to Bury St Edmunds and westward into Cambridgeshire, from Essex into Norfolk by Long Melford, Bury St Edmunds and Thetford, and from Long Melford to Haverhill, which is the northern terminus of the Colne Valley railway.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 952,710 acres, with a population in 1891 of 371,235 and in 1901 of 384,293. Suffolk comprises 21 hundreds, and for administrative purposes is divided into the counties of East Suffolk (557,854 acres) and West Suffolk (390,914 acres). The following are municipal boroughs and urban districts.
(1) East Suffolk. Municipal boroughs—Aldeburgh (pop. 2405), Beccles (6898), Eye (2004), Ipswich, a county borough and the county town (66,630), Lowestoft (29,85O), Southwold (2800). Urban districts—Bungay (3314), Felixstowe and Walton (5815), Halesworth (2246), Leiston-cum-Sizewell (3259), Oulton Broad (4044), Saxmundham (1452), Stowmarket (4162), Woodbridge (4640).
(2) West Suffolk. Municipal boroughs—Bury St Edmunds (16,255), Sudbury (7109). Urban districts—Glemsford (1975), Hadleigh (3245), Haverhill (4862), Newmarket (10,688), which is mainly in the ancient county of Cambridge.
Small market and other towns are numerous, such are Brandon, Clare, Debenham, Framlingham, Lavenham, Mildenhall, Needham Market and Orford. For parliamentary purposes the county constitutes five divisions, each returning one member, viz. north or Lowestoft division, north-east or Eye, north-west or Stowmarket, south or Sudbury, and south-east or Woodbridge. Bury St Edmunds returns one member and Ipswich two; part of the borough of Great Yarmouth, falls within the county. There is one court of quarter sessions for the two administrative counties, which is usually held at Ipswich for east Suffolk, and then by
