History

South Suffolk and the Stour Valley are internationally recognised for their links to landscape painters Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable, whose works document the agricultural and industrial changes of the 18th and 19th centuries.

But the area’s story stretches back much further. Prehistoric sites, traces of Roman influence, and the legacy of medieval cloth trade all remain visible in the landscape. These layers of history live on through archaeology, buildings, art, and the character of the countryside itself.