Editing Southwold (section)

==History==
[[File:Crews rush to their 3.7-inch guns, 127th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Southwold, Suffolk, 9 October 1944. H40434.jpg|thumb|Crews rush to their 3.7-inch guns, 127th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 9 October 1944]]
Southwold was mentioned in ''[[Domesday Book]]'' (1086) as a fishing port, and after the "capricious River Blyth withdrew from [[Dunwich]] in 1328, bringing trade to Southwold in the 15th century",<ref>[[Norman Scarfe]], ''Suffolk in the Middle Ages: Studies in Places and Place-Names'', 2004:161</ref> it received its town charter from [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] in 1489. The grant of the charter is marked by the annual [[Charter fair|Trinity Fair]], when it is read out by the Town Clerk. Over following centuries, however, a [[Shingle beach|shingle]] bar built up across the harbour mouth, preventing the town from becoming a major Early Modern port: "The shingle at Southwold Harbour, the mouth of the Blyth, is ever shifting," William Whittaker observed in 1887.<ref>W. Whitaker, ''The Geology of Southwold, and of the Suffolk coast from Dunwich to Covehithe: (Explanation of sheet 49 N.)'' 1887: "Coast deposits" pp. 45ff; coastal spits and bars are discussed in J. Steers, "The East Anglian Coast", ''The Geographical Journal'' '''69'''.1 January 1927.</ref>

Southwold was the home of a number of [[Puritan]] emigrants to the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in the 1630s, notably a party of 18 assembled under Rev. Young, which travelled in the ''Mary Ann'' in 1637.<ref>Roger Thompson, ''Mobility and Migration: East Anglian Founders of New England, 1629–1640'' 2009:188, ''et passim''.</ref> Richard Ibrook, born in Southwold and a former bailiff of the town, emigrated to [[Hingham, Massachusetts]], along with Rev. Peter Hobart, son of Edmund Hobart of [[Hingham, Norfolk]]. Rev. Hobart had been an assistant vicar of St Edmund's Church, Southwold, after graduating from [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Suffolk County |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfkPAAAAYAAJ&q=ibrooke+hingham&pg=RA3-PA300 |title=Mr. Richard Ibrooke, Suffolk Deeds, William Blake Trask, Frank Eliot Bradish, Charles A. Drew, A. Grace, Rockwell and Churchill Press, Boston, 1908 |access-date=23 February 2013 |location=Boston |publisher=Rockwell and Churchill Press |year=1903 |page=80 }}</ref> Hobart married in America Rebecca Ibrook, daughter of his fellow Puritan Richard Ibrook. The migrants to Hingham were led by Robert Peck, vicar of St Andrew's Church in Hingham and a native of [[Beccles]].<ref>{{acad |id=PK598R2 |name=Peck, Robert}}</ref>

A fire in 1659 devastated most of the town, creating spaces that were never built on again. Today this "series of varied and very delightful [[village green]]s"<ref>Scarfe 2004:125.</ref> and the restriction of expansion by the surrounding [[marsh]]es, have preserved the town's tidy appearance.

On the green just above the beach, descriptively named Gun Hill, six 18-pounder [[cannon]] commemorate the [[Battle of Sole Bay]], fought in 1672 between English and French fleets on one side and the Dutch (under [[Michiel de Ruyter]]) on the other. The battle was bloody but indecisive and many bodies were washed ashore. Southwold Museum has a collection of mementos of the event. These cannon were captured from the [[Scotland|Scots]] at [[Battle of Culloden|Culloden]] and given to the town by the [[Prince William, Duke of Cumberland|Duke of Cumberland]], who had landed at Southwold in October 1745 having been recalled from Europe to deal with the Jacobite threat.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ptPvFrIOW4UC&dq=southwold+old+town+hall&pg=PA258|title=Southwold|publisher=Pall Mall Magazine|page=258|year=1893|access-date=20 April 2022}}</ref> In World War II they were prudently removed, reputedly buried for safety, and returned to their former position after hostilities.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 February 2021 |title=Southwold At War - World War Two |url=http://southwoldmuseum.org/war_worldwar2.htm |access-date=2 February 2021 |website=Southwold Museum}}</ref>

On 15 May 1943, low-flying German fighter-bombers attacked the town and killed eleven people,<ref>Detailed account: [https://www.southwoldmuseum.org/War%20popups/Bomb%20story.pdf Retrieved 8 October 2018.]</ref> including the cricketer [[George Katinakis]].