SUFFOLK, a maritime county of England, is bounded on the east by the German Ocean, on the south by Essex, on the north by Norfolk, and on the south by the county of Cambridge. It is about 47 miles long and 27 broad, and contains 1,512 square statute miles, or 967,680 statute acres. The rental of land is X694,078 LI17,405 of tithe, and the annual value or a square mile is L537. In 1806 it paid X1,731,763 of property tax.
Suffolk is politically divided into the franchise or liberty of Bury St. Edmunds and the Geldable land ; and though there is only one assize for the county, yet two grand juries are always appointed, one for the Geldable land, and the other for the liberty of Bury St. Edmunds. These are subdivided into 21 hun dreds and 523 parishes. The county pays 20 parts of the land-tax, furnishes 960 militiamen, and returns 16 members to parliament, two for the county, and two for each of the towns of Aldhorough, Dunwich, Eye, Ipswich, Orford, Sudbury, and Bury St. Ed munds.
The county is governed ecclesiastically by the bishop of Norwich, aided by the archdeacons of Sud bury and Suffolk. In 1803 the money levied for the poor was L149,666, or 48. 101d. per pound of annual rate.
Suffolk in general presents a level surface, diversi fied with but few eminences of any considerable height. The great chalk ridge extends from Haver hill to Thetford in the county of Norfolk.
Suffolk is bounded on the south and west by navi gable rivers, is intersected by numerous streams. The navigable rivers are the Lark which joins the Great Ouse near Mildenhall. The Waveny, which, after approaching the very sea-shore, is driven back abruptly by a rising ground, and runs due north to the Yar, the Deben, which passes Woodbridge and falls into the sea ; the Gipping. which receives the name of the Orwell below Ipswich, to which it is nav igable, and joins the Stour opposite to Harwich; the Blythe, which runs near Saxfield, and is navigable to Framlingliam ; and the Stour, which separates the county from Essex, falls into the sea, between Har wich and Landguard fort. The other rivers arc the Little Ouse and the Alde. The only canal in Suf folk runs from Ipswich to Stowmarket.
The soil of Suffolk embraces almost every variety from the lightest sand to the heaviest clay ; the for mer occurs principally in the northwest of the county, which is a dreary barren district, sustaining upon its patches of heath a few sheep and rabbits. Even here, however, by means of the free use of clay, much val uable land has been reclaimed. The interior of the county is a strong fertile loam, which rewards the skill with which it is managed by most abundant crops. The portion called High Suffolk has a very stiff and retentive soil, but yields fine wheat, oats, beans, hemp, and cabbage. The bean crops are highly productive. Turnips and carrots are extensively cultivated. Every garden rears a small portion of hemp, and a few hops are grown near Stowmarket. The seaward district is generally sandy, but it bears excellent barley nhen enriched with shell marl, which occurs in vast beds near Woodbridge. A small part of the county is
fenny, and peat bog is in some cases found from one to six feet beneath the surface.
The farming stock of this is highly valuable.
Suffolk furnishes an excellent breed of draught horses, which are strong, active, and capable of great exer tion. The cows, which have no horns, are excellent milkers, yielding from five to eight gallons a day. The dairy district is extensive, and the quantity of butter sent annually to London is about 40,000 firkins. The sheep, which are very numerous, are chiefly of the Norfolk breed. Within the last 40 years the breed has been nearly changed by the introduction of the South Down breed, which was effected by Arthur Young. Hogs, poultry, and pigeons are numerous.
There are many rabbit warrens; one near Brandon yields 40,000 rabbits annually: Suffolk has almost no manufactures, the woollen manufacture occupying in 1785 about 37,600 persons, having been chiefly transferred to Yorkshire. At Stowmarket coarse linen is made, at Sudbury, says, Scc. (See SUDBURY) some bone lace near Eye, and at La venham some calimancoes. The principal exports are corn and malt. Woodbridge has a share of the coasting trade and makes some fine salt, and lime from fossil shells. Lowestoff and Southwold have a mackarel and herring fishery in which many vessels are engaged.
One of the principal objects of antiquity in Suffolk is the Roman castle of Burgh situated on an eminence near the confluence of the Yare and 1Vaveney. It is supposed by Camden and others to be the Garianonzon of the Romans, erected in the reign of Claudius by Sca pula who conquered the Iceni. It forms three sides of a parallelogram with rounded angles. The north and south sides are each 321 feet long, and the east side 642 feet long; the walls are sixteen feet high and nine feet thick, enclosing five and a half acres, including the walls: The chief entrance was on the cast side. There is a circular moat at the south-west corner. A little to the north are the remains of a monastery, built by an Irish monk. The monasteries of Bury St. Edmunds and Framlington, and several old churches are among the most remarkable of the Saxon antiquities.
The following was the population of the county in 1821: Number of houses - - 42,773 Families 55,069 Families in trade - - - - 17,418 Total population - - - - 270,342 The population of the chief towns are as follows:— Ipswich, burgh of, - - - - 17,186 Bury St. Edmunds, burgh of, - - 10,000 Woodbridge town and parish - - 4,060 Sudbury, burgh of, - - - 3,950 Lowestoft' town and parish - - 3,675 Beccles town and parish - • - • 3,473 Bungay town and two parishes - . 3,270 Mildenhall town and parish - - 2,974 Hadley town and parish - - - 2,929 Framlington town and parish - - - 2,327 Stowmarket town and parish - - 2,252 Halesworth town and parish - - . 2,166 Eye burgh and parish - - - 1,882 For farther information respecting this county, see the Beauties of England and ;Vales, Vol. xiv. Young's .dgriculture of Steblk, and Kirby's Suffolk Traveller.