Aldringham is a village in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The village is located 1 mile (1½ km) south of Leiston

Leiston

Leiston is a town in eastern Suffolk, England. It is situated near Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, about from the North Sea coast and is northeast of Ipswich and northeast from London...

 and 3 miles (4½ km) northwest of Aldeburgh

Aldeburgh

Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...

 close to the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 coast. The parish includes the coastal village of Thorpeness

Thorpeness

Thorpeness is a village in the county of Suffolk, England. It is part of the parish of Aldringham cum Thorpe and is within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.- Development of the community :...

. The mid-2005 population estimate for Aldringham cum Thorpe

Aldringham cum Thorpe

Aldringham cum Thorpe is a civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk, England. Located south of the town of Leiston, the parish includes the villages of Aldringham and Thorpeness, which is on the coast, between Sizewell and Aldeburgh . In 2007 it had an estimated population of 700....

 parish was 730.

History

Aldringham is mentioned in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 as 'Alrincham'. Its placename derivation is uncertain but Ekwall indicates that it probably means 'the home of Ealdhere' and any similarity to Aldeburgh is coincidental.

Aldringham was formerly a market town. The oldest building in the village is The Parrot and Punchbowl pub, which contains many references to its heavy involvement in smuggling in the two centuries after its opening in the sixteenth century.

Aldringham Windmill was dismantled in 1922 and re-erected in 1923 at Thorpeness

Thorpeness

Thorpeness is a village in the county of Suffolk, England. It is part of the parish of Aldringham cum Thorpe and is within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.- Development of the community :...

.

Aldringham was the home of the poet, artist and architect Cecil Lay

Cecil Howard Lay

Cecil Howard Lay was an English poet of the Georgian school, architect and artist, closely associated with his native Suffolk.-Life:...

, and most of his architectural work is found in or near the village, including Raidsend, some houses on North Warren, and the chapel on Aldringham Heath.

Community

The village is dispersed and close to both Leiston and Aldeburgh so has few basic services and community facilities. The village expanded with the construction of a small housing estate in the early 2000s.