Suffolk, the easternmost county of England, is bounded on the N. by Norfolk, E. by the German Ocean, S. by Essex, and W. by Cambridgeshire. In length from east to west it measures 57 miles, and the mean breadth from north to south is about 30 miles. Area, 1475 sq. m.; pop. (1801) 210,431; (1831) 296,317; (1861) 337,070; (1891) 371,235. Though no hills of any notable character rise within its confines, Suffolk is not by any means flat. Bordering on the seacoast, it is low and skirted by banks of shingle, except near Lowestoft and Southwold, and again at Dunwich and Felixstowe, which all rest on sandstone cliffs; adjoining and running parallel with these last stretches an almost continuous series of light sandy heath-lands, glorious in summer with gorse and heather; and inland the country is undulating, well watered, and for the most part well wooded, the scenery in places—e.g. at Yoxford, aptly called the garden of Suffolk, and in the vale of the Gipping—being very picturesque. More than two-thirds of the county consists of heavy land, a stiff clay prevailing in Mid (or as it is locally termed 'High') Suffolk, whilst the western part lies upon chalk, terminating at its north-west corner with a tract of peaty fen-land. The Waveney, Alde, Deben, Orwell, and Stour, all flowing eastwards, are the principal rivers; with the exception of one branch-line, the railways are all worked by the Great Eastern Company. The Suffolk crag, or white crag, is one of the divisions of the British Pliocene System (q.v.); and Coprolites (q.v.) are raised in the region between Ipswich and Woodbridge, gunflints at Brandon. Agriculture, despite the depression of late years, still forms the staple industry, 780,000 acres being under cultivation. A red polled breed of cattle, of which the cows are deservedly held in high esteem, is peculiar to the county; and its pigs, some black and others white, are also widely known. Horse-breeding too, apart from the racing establishments at Newmarket, is a specialty, a large export trade being carried on in both riding and cart horses; and immense quantities of lambs—blackfaced, and a cross between the Norfolk-horned and the Southdown—are raised. The manufactures are noticed under Ipswich (the capital), Beccles, Stowmarket, and Sudbury, these being, with Bury St Edmunds, Lowestoft, and Woodbridge, the most important towns. Containing 21 hundreds and 517 civil parishes in the dioceses of Norwich and Ely, its parliamentary divisions are five in number, each returning one member, and it has two county councils, one for the eastern and the other for the western district. The assizes are held alternately at Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.
The history of Suffolk, presumably from its lying somewhat off the beaten track, presents but few facts deserving of special mention; prior to the Conquest it was in common with the rest of East Anglia (of which it formed part) oftentimes overrun and pillaged by the Norsemen, whilst of incidents of later date it will suffice to mention the descent of Flemish mercenaries under the Earl of Leicester in 1173 in support of the claims of Henry II.'s eldest son, culminating in their defeat at Fornham, near Bury St Edmunds; and the sea-fights off Lowestoft (1665) and Southwold (1671). In antiquities the county is especially rich, and amongst them may be noted the ruins of the castles of Burgh (Roman), Framlingham, Orford, and Wingfield (the last the place of Charles d'Orleans' imprisonment); the gatehouse of Butley Priory (Norman); earthworks at Fornham, Hangley, Nacton, and Snape; the fine flint-work churches scattered throughout the county, of which perhaps the best examples are those of Blythburgh, Lavenham, Melford, Southwold, Stoke-by-Nayland, and Walberswick; and the old halls (many of them moated) of Helmingham, Parham, Hengrave, Rushbrooke, Ickworth, Somerleyton, Giffords, and West Stow. Of Suffolk worthies (exclusive of those named under Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds) the best known are Bishops Grosseteste, Aungerville, and Bale; Archbishop Sancroft; Chief-justices Glanvill and Cavendish; George Cavendish (Wolsey's biographer); Nash, Crabbe, and Robert Bloomfield (poets); Sir Simonds D'Ewes; the Earl of Arlington, Roger North, Capell (the Shakespeare commentator); Gainsborough, Frost, Constable, and Bright (artists); Bunbury (the caricaturist), Edwards (the etcher), Woolner (the sculptor), Lord Chancellor Thurlow, Arthur Young, Clara Reeve, Mrs Inchbald, Kirby (the naturalist), John Hookham Frere, Crabb Robinson, Sir Philip Brooke, William Johnson Fox, Professor John Austin and his brother Charles, Admirals Fitzroy and Rous, Dr Routh, Professors Maurice and Cowell, Edward FitzGerald, Sir J. D. Hooker, Sir Henry Thompson, Agnes Strickland, and Miss Betham Edwards.
See works by Kirby (2d ed. 1764), Callum (1813), Gage (1838), Page (1844), Suckling (2 vols. 1846-48), Glyde (1858 and 1866), Baynes (2 vols. 1873), Taylor (1887), White (new ed. 1891), Raven (1896); Excursions in the County of Suffolk (2 vols. 1818-19); and an article in the Quarterly for April 1887.