Historic Towns and Villages in Suffolk

Monks Eleigh is a pretty village in the Brett Valley, with a history going back to at least the 10th century when the manor was given to the monks of Canterbury. The monks owned the village until the Dissolution of the Monasteries and gave the 'Monks' appellation to the village name. There are numerous thatched and timber-framed houses, including at least two dating to the 15th century.
A1141, Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: A wealth of timber-framed, thatched cottages

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Nayland is a beautiful medieval village on the north bank of the River Stour, on the Suffolk border with Essex. The village was a centre of the wool trade in the medieval and Jacobean period, and the wealthy wool merchants built picturesque timber-framed houses throughout the village.
B1087, Nayland, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: A wealth of 16th-century timber-framed houses

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Palgrave is a pretty village south of Diss, barely inside the Suffolk border with Norfolk. The centre of the village is a conservation area, with dozens of listed buildings, including several thatched cottages and an early 16th-century timber-framed guildhall.
Palgrave, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: 14th-century St Peter's Church

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Polstead is the quintessential Suffolk village, set in a wonderful rural location in the Box Valley south-west of Hadleigh. The village boasts a wealth of picturesque thatched cottages. Look for the Gospel Oak in the grounds of Polstead Hall where St Cedd is said to have preached in AD 653.
Polstead, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: Site of St Cedd's mission in AD 653

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Rattlesden is a pretty Suffolk village full of attractive timber-framed and thatched cottages, on the River Rat between Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket. The parish church of St Nicholas dates to the 13th century and boasts a late-medieval angel roof.
Rattlesden, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: 13th-century St Nicholas church

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Redgrave is a picturesque village in northern Suffolk, close to the Norfolk border. The village is centred on a large green, with dozens of historic thatched and timber-framed cottages. Just outside the village is Redgrave Park, laid out as a landscape park by Capability Brown for the Holt family.
Redgrave, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: 14th-century St Mary's church

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Somerleyton is an idyllic estate village on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, just outside the grounds of Somerleyton Hall. The Hall has roots in the 13th century but in its present form is a picturesque Victorian mansion built by Sir Samuel Peto, who also rebuilt the Hall and church.
B1074, Somerleyton, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: Somerleyton Hall, a superb Victorian mansion and gardens

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Southwold is a pretty seaside resort town with a history going back to the Domesday Book. The town boasts a Victorian amusement pier, a late 19th-century lighthouse, and the superb 15th-century parish church of St Edmund's.
Southwold, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: 15th-century St Edmund's Church

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Stoke-by-Nayland is one of the prettiest villages in Suffolk, blessed with an abundance of picturesque timber-framed and thatched houses. John Constable painted some of his best-loved landscapes near Stoke, and the medieval church of St Mary featured in the last painting he made before his death.
B1068, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: Timber-framed 15th and 16th-century houses

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Stowlangtoft is a pretty rural village near Pakenham, with a magnificent Perpendicular church built in one go in the late 14th century. Across from the church is a row of 17th-century almshouses, and just outside the village is Stowlangtoft Hall, a Victorian mansion built in 1859, now a nursing home.
Stowlangtoft, Suffolk, England

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Heritage Highlight: St George's church, built in the late 14th century

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