Sarah E. Doig – författare

This book romps through the rolling countryside and along the shingled coastline of Suffolk, unearthing the curious along the way. Sandwiched between ecclesiastical penances handed down to adulterers and fornicators, and the odd porcelain incendiary bombs commemorating the Zeppelin raids, is an alphabetical cornucopia of strange, spooky and mysterious facts about the county. Is the supposedly ancient game of dwile flonking quite so old? What did writers like Pepys and Defoe say about Suffolk cheese? Which tower was probably just built to curry favour with the monarch? And who was the unknown, self-taught archaeologist who made one of the most significant finds of all time? The A-Z of Curious Suffolk is a book to dip into, unless of course you can’t wait to turn the page and read more!

If we scratch beneath the surface of the Suffolk we know today, there are numerous surprising, touching and alarming tales which bring to life the rich history of this county. The Little History of Suffolk reveals the devastating effect of the dissolution of the monasteries, the decline of the once-booming cloth trade, drastic erosion of the coastline, and the disappearance of large country houses and estates. Here you will also find the rise of the chic Victorian seaside resorts, the captains of the brewing and iron industries who put Suffolk firmly on the post-industrial revolution map, and the key wartime role the county played over many centuries. No corner of Suffolk is left unturned in this small book with a huge punch.

Suffolk boasts by far the greatest number of Domesday churches of any county surveyed by William the Conqueror in 1086. Over the centuries, many of these buildings have been renewed, enlarged and altered, whilst others have sadly disappeared either completely or partially from the landscape. Some of Suffolk’s churches are more recent additions. The present-day churches of Suffolk, therefore, offer a diversity of styles of architecture and of construction, both inside and out. They range from flint round towers to whole buildings built using prefabricated cement blocks, from meticulously carved pew ends to flamboyant ceilings bursting with colour, and from angelic musicians to demonic wall paintings. For this book, the author presents a selection of not only the best of Suffolk churches but also the curious and intriguing, all of which tell the rich history of Suffolk and its people at prayer.This fascinating picture of an important part of the history of Suffolk over the centuries will be of interest to all those who live in or are visiting this attractive county in England.