Eye (Suffolk)
Coordinates: 52 ° 19 ′ N , 1 ° 9 ′ E
Eye is a market town in the district Mittelsuffolk in the county of Suffolk in eastern England , the south of Diss on River Dove is.
history
From the beginning to the early modern era
The name "Eye" comes from the Old English word for 'island'. It is believed that the first settlement of the place was likely completely surrounded by water and marshland formed by the River Dove to the east and southeast, its tributary in the north, and the lowlands (part of which now forms the Town Moor ) to the west and south . Even today the area is at risk of flooding from the River Dove. This is a tributary of the Waveney , which is the border between Suffolk and Norfolk .
There are finds from the Paleolithic , Mesolithic , Neolithic and Bronze Age around Eye . The oldest evidence of settlement, however, comes from Roman times and includes building remains and coins that have been dated to around 365 AD. In 1780, a great treasure from the late Roman period was discovered near Eye, but it is only sparsely scientifically documented. It is interesting that only a few kilometers away in 1992 a similarly large treasure from the same era was found near the neighboring settlement of Hoxne ( Hoxne depository ). A large Anglo-Saxon cemetery , containing many urns and graves with grave goods and in use during the 6th century, was excavated near the Waterloo Plantation in Eye in 1818 .
In Anglo-Saxon Britain before the Norman conquest of England , Eye was one of the numerous holdings of Edric of Laxfield, a rich and influential Saxon and the third largest landowner in Suffolk . After the conquest, the town's importance in the region was cemented when the Honor of Eye was handed over to William Malet , a Norman lord from the Malet family . It remained in the hands of royal or noble families until 1823. Between 1066 and 1071, Malet built a castle to fortify its military and administrative center and began to establish a very successful market , fueling the urbanization of the settlement. Later, in 1086/87, Robert Malet , William's son, founded the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter, a branch of Bernay Abbey in Normandy .
Eye began to lose its strategic importance after 1173 when the castle was attacked by Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk , during the rebellion against Henry II . Later, during the Second War of the Barons in 1265, a second attack took place, after which the castle could never return to its old importance. Their prison was in use until the early 17th century, although most of the castle buildings were demolished during the 14th century. A windmill , built 1561-1562, stood on the moth until the circular false keep was built in 1844. Its ruins still stand today; the Castle Street and Church Street still show the elliptical shape of the former outer walls.
There was a church in Eye since at least 1066; However, today's Church of St. Peter and Paul was built in the 14th century and is considered one of the most beautiful churches in the county. A 13th century Early English portal from an earlier building was incorporated into the 14th century construction of the church. In the 15th and again in the 16th century there were periods of further expansion and renovation. In 1868 the church was restored by James Colling, a London architect. A special feature of the church is the splendid rood screen from the late 15th century, whose high board and cross were designed by Ninian Comper in 1925 . The rood screen is to become of the monastery Great Massingham in Norfolk originate.
Early modern times until today
The earliest mention of industry in Eye recalls that in 1673 'women in this town were mainly employed in the manufacture of lace ' and later in 1830 'the lower class of women industrial workers were engaged in the manufacture of lace'. It appears that Eye was the center of local lace making for many years; the town's last lace maker died in 1914. Lace was not the only industry, however, and the county registers list the many shops and pursuits of the Eye people through the 18th and 19th centuries. This included blacksmiths , wagons , coopers , watchmakers , tailors , hat makers and printers . There were several slaughterhouses , two breweries and two spinning mills for the production of flax . Iron and tin foundries, manufacturers of agricultural implements and church bell frame carpenters and hangers were at work well into the 20th century. In 1937 Eye's business people were auctioneers , booksellers and printers , bootmakers and shoemakers , candle-makers , doctors , drapers and watchmakers, as well as banks , bakers , butchers and grocers .
Eye used to be the county's smallest borough , its boundaries based on King John Ohneland's 1205 charter . The charter was renewed in 1408, and a few more times by subsequent monarchs. 1885 proved to the town clerk of Hythe that the original document only to Hythe in Kent belongs; the error arose from the similarity of the early English spellings. The error was confirmed by archivists in 1950, but the city status was not interrupted until 1974 after the territorial reform when Eye was demoted to parish but retained its councilor, mayor and city insignia. From 1571 to 1832 Eye produced two MPs, then under the Reform Act of 1832 one MP until 1983. After that, the constituency of Eye was replaced by the constituency of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich .
In 1846 Eye City Council failed to get the London - Norwich railway through Eye. The line, completed in 1849, instead ran through Diss , which grew economically and in population, while Eye stagnated. A branch line from Mellis was finally completed in 1964. Today Eye retains its character as a small market town ( market town ) with a population of about 2,000 inhabitants.
Through the years Eye had a game reserve , a leprosy hospital, a prison, a workhouse, a David Fisher theater, a post office and post office, a workers' hall, a reading room, a guild house, a primary school, twenty pubs (including beer houses) and an airfield used by the 490th United States Air Force Bombing Command during World War II .
Eye today
Eye today owns a hospital, a health center, three schools including Hartismere High School , three churches, a library, a police station, a fire department , an industrial area and the former airfield, a British Women's Institute market and a picnic area ( The Pennings ) on Dove Shore. The Town Moors Recreation Area contains sports fields, football fields, and a large area of hiking trails. Eye also operates one of the smallest professional theaters in the country, which houses the assembly room of the former White Lion Post Hostel .
Eye owns three listed buildings 1st degree: the Zunfthaus (now a private house); the castle and the church of St. Peter and Paul. There are seven 2nd level buildings and 152 3rd level buildings in the city. The Eye City Hall , an unusual and unorthodox building of the 2nd degree from 1856, was designed by Edward Buckton Lamb, one of the 'rogue architects' from the mid-Victorian era . Behind the town hall is The Queen's Head , the only surviving pub from what was once twenty in town.
Personalities
- Frederick Ashton (1904–1988), choreographer , lived in Eye until his death
- Tim Giles (* 1980), fusion and jazz musician
Town twinning
Individual evidence
- ^ The Numismatic Chronicle (1891), Proceedings of the Royal Numismatic Society, 10.
- ↑ Catherine Johns, Roger Bland: The Hoxne Late Roman Treasure . In: Britannia 25, 1994, pp. 165-173
literature
- The History of Eye , Clive Paine ISBN 0-9522509-0-X .
- SE West, 1998, A Corpus of Anglo-Saxon material from Suffolk, East Anglian Archeology 84, 35-6.
Web links
- Town Web Site
- Diss Express - Eye's local newspaper website
- Mid-Suffolk District Council
- Hartismere High School
- 490th Bomb Group
- Map - Eye and its airfield ( Memento from May 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Digital Image Creators
- 4-Star Silver Luxury B&B