Editing Suffolk (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Suffolk}}

=== Administration ===

The [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] settlement of Suffolk, and [[East Anglia]] generally, occurred on a large scale,<ref>Toby F. Martin, ''The Cruciform Brooch and Anglo-Saxon England'', Boydell and Brewer Press (2015), pp. 174–178</ref> possibly following a period of depopulation by the previous inhabitants, the Romanised descendants of the [[Iceni]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Dark |first=Ken R. |title=Large-scale population movements into and from Britain south of Hadrian's Wall in the fourth to sixth centuries AD |url=https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2003-03_K._R._Dark%2C_Large-scale_population_movements_into_and_from_Britan_south_of_Hadrian%27s_Wall_in_the_fourth_to_sixth_centuries_AD.pdf |access-date=18 June 2020 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601080017/https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2003-03_K._R._Dark%2C_Large-scale_population_movements_into_and_from_Britan_south_of_Hadrian%27s_Wall_in_the_fourth_to_sixth_centuries_AD.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> By the fifth century, they had established control of the region. The Anglo-Saxon inhabitants later became the "north folk" and the "south folk", from which developed the names "Norfolk" and "Suffolk".<ref>{{cite web |title=English Place Names |url=http://www.englishplacenames.co.uk/ |website=englishplaceneames.co.uk |publisher=James Rye |access-date=20 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231034804/http://www.englishplacenames.co.uk/ |archive-date=31 December 2009}}</ref>

Suffolk was divided into four separate [[Quarter Sessions]] divisions, which met at [[Beccles]], [[Bury St Edmunds]], [[Ipswich]] and [[Woodbridge, Suffolk|Woodbridge]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Reports of cases argued and determined in the Queen's Bench Practice Court |date=1848 |page=628 |publisher=Bail Court Great Britain }}</ref> In 1860, the number of divisions was reduced to two, when the Beccles, Ipswich and Woodbridge divisions merged into an East Suffolk division, administered from Ipswich, and the old Bury St Edmunds division became the West Suffolk division.<ref>{{cite news |title=Suffolk March Sessions |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=2 January 2024 |publisher=Ipswich Journal |date=17 March 1860 |page=6}}</ref> Under the [[Local Government Act 1888]], the two divisions were made the separate administrative counties of [[East Suffolk (county)|East Suffolk]] and [[West Suffolk (county)|West Suffolk]];<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government Act, 1888 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1888/41/pdfs/ukpga_18880041_en.pdf |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom |access-date=21 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203040721/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1888/41/pdfs/ukpga_18880041_en.pdf |archive-date=3 December 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 1 April 1974, under the [[Local Government Act 1972]], East Suffolk, West Suffolk, and Ipswich were merged to form the unified county of Suffolk. The county was divided into several [[non-metropolitan district|local government district]]s: [[Babergh District|Babergh]], [[Forest Heath]], [[Borough of Ipswich]], [[Mid Suffolk]], [[Borough of St Edmundsbury]], [[Suffolk Coastal]], and [[Waveney District|Waveney]]. This act also transferred some land near [[Great Yarmouth]] to Norfolk. As introduced in Parliament, the Local Government Act would have transferred [[Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket]] and Haverhill to Cambridgeshire and [[Colchester]] from Essex; such changes were not included when the act was passed into law.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government Act 1972 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/70/contents |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom |access-date=21 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016020205/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/70/contents |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2019, Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury merged to form [[West Suffolk (district)|West Suffolk]] district,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/639/contents/made |title=The West Suffolk (Local Government Changes) Order 2018 |author=Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government |date=24 May 2018 |access-date=28 May 2018 |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529045911/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/639/contents/made |archive-date=29 May 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> while Waveney and Suffolk Coastal formed [[East Suffolk (district)|East Suffolk]] district.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/640/contents/made |title=The East Suffolk (Local Government Changes) Order 2018 |author=Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government |date=24 May 2018 |access-date=28 May 2018 |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528215213/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/640/contents/made |archive-date=28 May 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>