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Aldeburgh is located in the middle of the Suffolk coast. Just south of the ancient city of Dunwich and the RSPB nature reserve at Minsmere. It has two RSPB reserves of it's own at Havergate Island (home of the avocet) on the River Alde and the heath and woodland at North Warren. |
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| Aldeburgh is approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of Ipswich and a similar distance south of Lowestoft. Access to the town is easily achieved from the A12. If north bound from Ipswich turn right off the A12 at the start of the dual carriageway just north of Farnham. If travelling south from the Lowestoft area turn left as signposted in the village of Yoxford. | |
Settled since Saxon and Roman times Aldeburgh has a colourful history. It became a centre of ship building in the 16th century and lays claim to the construction of Drake's ships the Golden Hind and Greyhound. Boat building continues today albeit on a smaller scale at Slaughden where the most northerly of the Martello Towers is sited. During the industrial revolution Richard Garrett produced steam traction engines in nearby Leiston. His descendants included Britain's first woman Mayor, the physician, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. Her sister, Millicent Fawcett, a pioneering suffragette, also lived in the town and was the first woman to be honoured with a statue in London's Parliament Square. Today the town is well known internationally for the Aldeburgh Festival founded by Benjamin Britten. |
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