This article is about the village also known as Holton St. Peter. For the other Holton in Suffolk, see Holton St. Mary

Holton St. Mary

Holton St Mary is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Located on the B1070 around five miles south-west of Ipswich and half a mile from the A12 , it is part of Babergh district....

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Holton, 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...

, is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 near to the town of Halesworth

Halesworth

Halesworth is a small market town in the northeastern corner of Suffolk, England. It is located south west of Lowestoft, and straddles the River Blyth, 9 miles upstream from Southwold. The town is served by Halesworth railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line...

 with a population of around 1,100. Holton is split into two parts, Upper Holton and Holton.

History

Although it often referred to as Holton St. Peter, such as in the name of its primary school, the 'St Peter' suffix was adopted bv some village institutions to prevent confusion with the other Suffolk 'Holton' of Holton St. Mary. However, a proposed name change was rejected at the time by the Parish Council and the village officially remains to this day 'Holton'. Holton is an Anglo-Saxon place name meaning 'village in a hollow' and the site was likely inhabited from neolithic times. A few Roman artefacts have been found locally and it is possible that the Blyth river was forded here (at Mells) as it lay on the ancient trackway from Dunwich to Beccles.

Holton Hall was demolished to become a caravan park but the house had many famous connections to the anti-slavery movement and Barclays Bank.

Features

The church of Holton St Peter is one of 38 existing round-tower church

Round-tower church

Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, almost solely in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, 6 in Essex, 3 in Sussex and 2 each in Cambridgeshire and Berkshire. There is evidence of about twenty round-tower...

es 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...

 built by the Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 in the 11th century.

Holton has a primary school, two shops: Market Fields Farm Shop and Holton Orchards Farm Shop; the Lord Nelson pub closed early in 2008. Apart from Bernard Matthews Farms, there is a small industrial site at the airfield with small workshops and a feed store. The post mill

Post mill

The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. The defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. The earliest post mills in England are thought to have...

 was restored and its sails started working again in 1996. The community produces a bi-monthly magazine 'The Holton Post'.

Holton also boasts a post mill

Post mill

The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. The defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. The earliest post mills in England are thought to have...

, parts of which date back to the 18th century. The mill had been left in a terrible state of disrepair back in the 1960s but was rescued and has been repaired/restored on numerous occasions since. The mill is now under private ownership but is sometimes opened to the public.

Avian flu outbreak

An outbreak of avian influenza of the H5N1

H5N1

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as "bird flu", A or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species...

 strain was confirmed, on 3 February 2007, at a farm near Holton, owned by Bernard Matthews

Bernard Matthews

Bernard Matthews Farms Ltd is a British farming and food products business, which specialises in the farming of turkeys. Founded by Bernard Matthews in 1950, as Bernard Matthews Foods Ltd, the company is headquartered in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and has 56 farms throughout Norfolk, Suffolk and...

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