Blythburgh is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the East Suffolk district of the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

. It is west of

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is ...

and south-east of

Halesworth Halesworth is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in north-eastern Suffolk, England. The population stood at 4,726 in the 2011 Census. It lies south-west of Lowestoft, on a tributary of the River Blyth, upstream from Southwold. T ...

and lies on the River Blyth. The A12 road runs through the village which is split either side of the road. At the 2011 census the population of the parish was 297. The parish includes the hamlets of Bulcamp and Hinton. Blythburgh is best known for its church,

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

, known as the Cathedral of the Marshes. The church has been flood-lit since the 1960s and is a landmark for travellers on the A12. The village is the site of Blythburgh Priory which was founded by

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

monks from

St Osyth's Priory St Osyth's Abbey (originally and still commonly known as St Osyth's Priory) was a house of Augustinian canons in the parish of St Osyth (then named Chich) in Essex, England in use from the 12th to 16th centuries. Founded by Richard de Bel ...

in Essex in the 12th century.Blythburgh Priory ruins hosts first service in 500 years
BBC news website, 2011-08-02. Retrieved 2014-03-09.Blythburgh Priory, Blythburgh, Suffolk. Archaeological evaluation and assessment of results
, Wessex Archaeology, September 2009. Retrieved 2014-03-09. The priory was suppressed in 1537 and ruins remain at the site.Page.W (1975) 'Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Blythburgh', ''A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2'', pp. 91-94
available online
. Retrieved 2014-03-09. The village is in the area of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

in the area known as the Suffolk Sandlings. It is close to the Suffolk heritage coast located close to an area marshland and mud-flats along the River Blyth which were flooded in 1940 as part of British anti-invasion preparations at the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

History

North of the village is the site of the Battle of Bulcamp which occurred in 653 or 654 between the forces of

Anna of East Anglia Anna (or Onna; killed 653 or 654) was king of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. He was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles, and one of the three sons of Eni who ruled the kingdom of East Ang ...

and

Penda of Mercia Penda (died 15 November 655)Manuscript A of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' gives the year as 655. Bede also gives the year as 655 and specifies a date, 15 November. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and History'', 1934) put forward the theor ...

. Anna, the King of East Anglia, was defeated and killed along with his son Jurmin. Both are believed to have been buried at the site of Blythburgh Priory.S. E. Kelly, ‘Anna (d. 654?)’, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 201
accessed 2014-03-08.
/ref>Warner, Peter (1996) ''The Origins of Suffolk'', Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press. At the

Domesday Survey Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086 Blythburgh was a very large village with 42 households. It was called ''Bledeburo'', ''Blieburc'' or ''Blideburc'' and formed part of King William's holdings.Blythburgh
, Open Domesday. Retrieved 2014-03-09.
The Domesday Book Online. Retrieved 2014-03-09. It was an important port at this time and was taxed 3000 herring each year. Bulcamp and Hinton were both listed separately with eight households each. Both were held by Roger Bigot.Bulcamp
, Open Domesday. Retrieved 2014-03-09.Hinton
, Open Domesday. Retrieved 2014-03-09. Blythburgh Priory was founded by

monks from

in Essex in the 12th century. The priory was suppressed in 1537 and ruins remain at the site. The site is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and ...

. It was partially excavated in 2008 by Channel Four's ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' programme. The River Blyth had largely silted by the 18th century. By the 1750s merchants from the nearby town of

were keen to open the river for trade. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1757 and, after four locks were built, the river was open for vessels by 1761. By the end of the 19th century silting of the river downstream from Blythburgh made trade difficult and the locks were finally closed in 1934. Bulcamp, on the northern edge of the parish, was the site of the Blything Union

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

. It was built in 1765-66 and later became a geriatric hospital.Blythburgh and District Hospital, Blythburgh
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2014-03-09. It has now been converted to residential use.The Workhouse in Blything
The Workhouse website. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., eldest brother of US President John F. Kennedy, was killed when his aircraft exploded around south of the village during World War II. Kennedy and Lieutenant Wilford John Willy were piloting a BQ-8 "robot" aircraft (a converted B-24 Liberator) for the U.S. Navy's first mission in

Operation Aphrodite Aphrodite and Anvil were the World War II code names of United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy operations to use Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as precision-guided munitions against bunkers and other har ...

Geography

The

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

alongside the A12 shows that the village is north of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

and south of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

. Standing beside the road, the White Hart Inn owned by Southwold-based Adnams Brewery, dates from the 16th century and is known for its

Dutch gable A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a ...

ends to the building and beamed interior.White Hart Inn, Blythburgh
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2014-03-09. Henham Park, the home of the Rous family, is partially within the parish. It is the site of the annual

Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-1 ...

. The majority of the land to the south of the village is owned by the Blois family, formerly from Cockfield Hall. The parish includes Bulcamp to the north and Hinton to the south-east. The village is noteworthy for the large area of flooded marshes around the estuary of the River Blyth. The river flows from west of

to the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

between

and Walberswick, although it originally reached the sea at

Dunwich Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was ...

. Southwold is reached by the

A1095 road The A1095 road is an A road A roads may be *motorways or freeways, usually where the local word for motorway begins with A (for example, ''Autobahn'' in German; ''Autostrada'' in Italian). * main roads or highways, in a system where roads ar ...

with views over the river and the adjacent Hen Reedbeds bird reserve. Blythburgh railway station linked the village to Halesworth and Southwold on the

Southwold Railway The Southwold Railway was a narrow gauge railway line between Halesworth and Southwold in the English county of Suffolk. long, it was narrow gauge. It opened in 1879 and closed in 1929. Intermediate stations were at Wenhaston, Blythbur ...

. The railway was a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

line which operated between 1879 and 1929.

Holy Trinity Church

The parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Known as the ''Cathedral of the Marshes'', Blythburgh was one of the earliest Christian sites in East Anglia and a church is believed to have been located here in the 7th century. The current church is a Grade I

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

dating from the 14th and 15th centuries.Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2014-03-09. On 4 August 1577 a ghostly black dog known as

Black Shuck In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, one of many such black dogs recorded in folklore across the Br ...

is said to have appeared at the church.

Notable people

Blythburgh is mentioned in the song “Black Shuck”, from rock band The Darkness, from their album Permission To Land. The song centers around a local folk tale. The following people have been associated with Blythburgh. *

William Alwyn William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher. Life and music William Alwyn was born William Alwyn Smith in Northampton, the son of Ada Tyler (Tompkins ...

- composer * Doreen Carwithen - composer *

Ernest Crofts Ernest Crofts (15 September 1847 – 19 March 1911) was a British painter of historical and military scenes. Biography Born in Leeds on 15 September 1847, Ernest was son of John Crofts, Esq. of Adal, near Leeds, a Justice of the Peace, and gra ...

RA - military artist * Kenneth Hubbard - RAF pilot, dropped Britain's first live

H-Bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

in May 1957 * Simon Loftus OBE - brewer and

vintner A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

*Sir

John Seymour Lucas John Seymour Lucas (21 December 1849 – 8 May 1923) was a Victorian English history painting, historical and portrait painter, as well as an accomplished theatrical costume designer. He was born into an artistic London family (he was the neph ...

RA - portrait painter *

Jack Pritchard John Craven Pritchard (8 June 1899 – 27 April 1992) was a British furniture entrepreneur, who was very influential between the First and Second World Wars. His work is exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of London. He ...

Isokon The London-based Isokon firm was founded in 1929 by the English entrepreneur Jack Pritchard and the Canadian architect Wells Coates to design and construct modernist houses and flats, and furniture and fittings for them. Originally called We ...

designs *

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition as Doyle in ITV crime-action television drama series '' The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable television parts include the title roles in '' ...

- hymn music *

Peter Harold Wright Company Sergeant Major Peter Harold Wright VC (10 August 1916 – 5 April 1990) was a British Army soldier and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to Briti ...

- World War II

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

recipient

References

* Hugh Roberts, Mary Montague, & Barry Naylor. ''Holy Trinity, Blythburgh: Cathedral of the Marshes''. Jarrold Publishing, 1999.
History Notes
— Blythburgh Society *Alan Mackley, Mary Montague. 'Blythburgh. A Suffolk Village'. Blythburgh Church and Jarrold Publishing, 2003. *Alan Mackley, ed. The Restoration of Blythburgh Church 1881–1906. The Dispute between the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the Blythburgh Church Restoration Committee. Boydell, 2017.

External links

Blythburgh Village
— Suffolk County Council

— Blythburgh Society, 2002, Alan Mackley (ed.) {{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Burial sites of the House of Wuffingas