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Southwold, in Suffolk, England

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Southwold is a small town on the North Sea coast, in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is around 11 miles (18 km) south of Lowestoft, 29 miles (47 km) north-east of Ipswich and 97 miles (156 km) north-east of London. It is within the parliamentary constituency of Suffolk Coastal. Southwold was mentioned in Domesday Book (1086) as a fishing port, and after the "capricious River Blyth withdrew from Dunwich in 1328, bringing trade to Southwold in the 15th century", it received its town charter from Henry VII in 1489. Over the following centuries, however, a shingle bar built up across the harbour mouth, preventing the town from becoming a major Early Modern port: "The shingle at Southwold Harbour, the mouth of the Blyth, is ever shifting," William Whittaker observed in 1887. Southwold was the home of a number of Puritan emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s, notably a party of 18 assembled under Rev. Young, which travelled in the Mary Ann in 1637. Richard Ibrook, born in Southwold and a former bailiff of the town, emigrated to Hingham, Massachusetts, along with Rev. Peter Hobart, son of Edmund Hobart of Hingham, Norfolk. Rev. Hobart had been an assistant vicar of St Edmund's Church, Southwold after graduating from Magdalene College, Cambridge. Hobart married in America Rebecca Ibrook, daughter of his fellow Puritan Richard Ibrook. The migrants to Hingham were led by Robert Peck, vicar of St Andrew's Church in Hingham and a native of Beccles. In 1659 a fire devastated most of the town and damaged St Edmund's Church, whose original structure dated from the 12th century. The fire created a number of open spaces within the town which were never rebuilt. Today this "series of varied and very delightful village greens" and the restriction of expansion because of the surrounding marshes, have preserved its genteel appearance. On the green just above the beach, descriptively named Gun Hill, the six 18-pounder cannon commemorate the Battle of Sole Bay, fought in 1672 between English and French fleets on one side and the Dutch (under Michiel de Ruyter) on the other. The battle was bloody but indecisive and many bodies were washed ashore. Southwold Museum has a collection of mementos of the event. It has occasionally been said that these cannon were captured from the Scots at Culloden and given to the town by the Duke of Cumberland, who had landed at Southwold in October 1745 having been recalled from Europe to deal with the Jacobite threat, but they are much larger than those used by Charles Edward Stuart's army in that campaign. During World War I, it was widely thought that these cannon were one reason why this part of the coast was bombarded by the German Fleet as a "fortified coast". In World War II the cannon were prudently removed, reputedly buried for safety, and returned to their former position after hostilities. Southwold lighthouse was commissioned in 1890 and automated and electrified in 1938. It stands as a prominent landmark in the centre of the town and is a Grade II listed building. It is 31 metres (102 ft) metres tall, standing 37 metres (121 ft) metres above sea level. It is built of brick and painted white and has 113 steps around a spiral staircase. The lighthouse replaced three local lighthouses that were under serious threat from coastal erosion. It suffered a fire in its original oil fired lamp just six days after commissioning but survived and today operates a rotating 150 watt lamp with a range of 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi). Guided visits are run by the Southwold Millennium Foundation. Adnams Brewery was established in the town by George and Ernest Adnams in 1872 with the purchase of the Sole Bay Brewery which had been established in 1818. In 1890 the brewery was re-built on its current site in the centre of the town. The brewery is the town's largest employer and has been modernised and expanded in recent years with the development of an energy efficient brewery, a new distribution centre on the outskirts of the town and a distillery. In 2011 it received the Good Pub Guide Brewery of the Year Award. Southwold Pier was built in 1900 and at 247 metres (810 ft) it was long enough to accommodate the Belle steamers which carried trippers along the coast at that time. In World War II, it was weakened by two breaches, and in 1955 a large section was destroyed by a gale. The pier was entirely rebuilt and restored in 2001 and is now about 190 metres (620 ft) long. Whilst many English seaside piers are in decline, Southwold Pier is enjoying renewed popularity, helped by a collection of modern coin-operated novelty machines made by Tim Hunkin and the occasional berth of paddle steamers such as PS Waverley and the MV Balmoral. A model boat pond adjacent to the pier is used for the Southwold Model Yacht regattas that have been held since the late Victorian period. Some of the boats entered are up to 80 years old and include replicas of beach yawls. Regattas are usually held in the spring and summer with the largest, the annual regatta, held at the end of the summer season.

 

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Uploaded on March 17, 2014
Taken on June 13, 2013