Pictures of Southwold

About Southwold

With colourful beach huts fetching up to £40,000 this delightful seaside resort became the recent topic of conversation everywhere! A substantial price that history will no doubt record for posterity.

This delightful town has a history deeply rooted in Saxon times when it was a simple Saxon fishing village and the Domesday book shows that by the 11th-century Southwold was a prosperous fishing port doing a good trade. Medieval times saw a great deal of expansion to the harbour and an increase in trade. The town has delightful red brick and flint cottages and houses colourwashed in traditional suffolk colours of pink and blue, all interspersed around seven greens that camne into being following a great fire in 1659. Mostly, the town spreads out from the magnificent church of St.Edmund, King and Martyr. The church is a typical Suffolk church with huge windows, an impressive west tower and a two storey south porch. It is a richly decorated church with a rood screen across the whole of the front and contains a seven sacrement font with a cover dating 1930. St. Edmunds is a beautiful church and well worth a visit.

The beach here is of sand and shingle, it is safe for swimming except around the harbour entrance. The restored pier is a great attraction with an amusement arcade at the shore end. An imposing white lighthouse soars 100ft skywards, it was built in 1890 and can be seen from every part of the town. It is a distinctive landmark for mariners in the daytime and at night its beam can be spotted from 17 miles off shore.

You can be forgiven for thinking that a faintly malty smell pervades the sea air, this is solely due to Adnams Brewery, beer has been brewed in Southwold since the 16th-century, and continues to this day. The present brewery incorporates the old brewery building and retains a sense of history.

In this lovely resort town there are many reminders of the towns ancient and seafaring past and several figureheads survive in the Sailors Reading Room on the seafront.

Southwold, is on the beautiful Suffolk Heritage Coast in an area of great charm and beauty at the mouth of the River Blyth. It is an enchanting place that has much to interest and entertain the visitor. Shopping is good with a mix of quaint shops and those providing for modern day living, there is also a weekly market. The town has an annual fair and sailing regattas take place in May and August.