BRITAIN (^73)
WEEKENDER
icture an idyllic English
seaside town. A broad,
sandy beach backed by
beach huts in ice-cream
hues. A bunting-bedecked high
street overlooked by a working
lighthouse. A place of village
greens, agpoles and oral
displays. Such a place exists, and
it’s called Southwold.
Sitting pretty on the northeast
Suffolk coast, the town boasts what
is surely one of Britain’s loveliest
stretches of sand – but it’s not all
about the beach. With its
harmonious 18th- and 19th-
century architecture, cosy pubs and
world-class sh and chips,
Southwold is the quintessential
British holiday resort.
The town’s uncluttered, villagey
appearance can be traced back to its darkest
day in 1659, when a re devastated the whole
area, damaging the 13th-century St Edmund’s
Church and laying waste to swathes of the
town. Many of the empty spaces that the re
left behind were never built on; it’s thought
that these were designed to act as rebreaks
should another such disaster befall the town.
It never did, but Southwold’s series
of charming village greens – nine
in all – remain, contributing to its
sweetly nostalgic air.
Head for Gun Hill Green, taking
its name from the six cannons that
stand here, pointing out to sea. The
English eet was headquartered in
Southwold in the mid-17th century
under the command of the Duke
of York, later James II. The green
overlooks the bay where the last
major battle in British waters was
fought in 1672 – the Anglo-Dutch
Battle of Sole Bay – in which 4,000
seamen perished.
Next to another of the town’s
grassy spaces, St Bartholomew’s
Green, is the splendid Grade
I-listed St Edmund’s. This vast
church – one of Suffolk’s nest,
and somewhat at odds with the size of the
town – is a re ection of just how rich local
wool merchants had become by the mid-15th
century. Peek inside to admire the beautiful
carved angels in the roof, the medieval rood
screen and Southwold Jack, an armour-clad
automaton dating from the Wars of the Roses,
who announces the start of a service by
S OUTHWOLD
When it comes to unspoilt
seaside charm, pretty
Southwold has it in spades
WORDS NATASHA FOGES
Above: The lively High Street
This image: Southwold's beach
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