Sotherton

---

title: "Sotherton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-suffolk", "civil-parishes-in-suffolk", "waveney-district"] description: "Village in Suffolk, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-suffolk" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotherton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Suffolk, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
official_name	Sotherton
country	England
region	East of England
static_image_name	St Andrew's church Sotherton Suffolk (4965139413).jpg
static_image_caption	St Andrew's church
area_total_km2	4
area_footnotes
population	80
population_ref	(2005 est.)
os_grid_reference	TM442796
coordinates
post_town	Beccles
postcode_area	NR
postcode_district	NR34
dial_code	01502
constituency_westminster	Suffolk Coastal
shire_district	East Suffolk
shire_county	Suffolk
hide_services	yes
::

| official_name = Sotherton | country = England | region = East of England | static_image_name = St Andrew's church Sotherton Suffolk (4965139413).jpg | static_image_alt = | static_image_caption = St Andrew's church | static_image_2_name = | static_image_2_alt = | static_image_2_caption = | area_total_sq_mi = | area_total_km2 = 4 | area_footnotes = | population = 80 | population_ref = (2005 est.) | os_grid_reference = TM442796 | map_type = | map_alt = | coordinates = | label_position = | post_town = Beccles | postcode_area = NR | postcode_district = NR34 | dial_code = 01502 | constituency_westminster = Suffolk Coastal | civil_parish = | shire_district = East Suffolk | shire_county = Suffolk | website = | hide_services = yes Sotherton is a dispersed village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk. It is located approximately 7 mi south of Beccles and 3+3/4 mi north-east of Halesworth. The A145 road passes through the east of the parish area. The mid-2005 population estimate for Sotherton parish was 80. Uggeshall is located just to the north-east, Byford to the south and Blythburgh to the south-east. Latitude Festival takes place a couple of miles east.

Domesday Book entry

(At) SuDRETUNA [Sotherton] Rada a freeman held under Harold 2 carucates of land as a manor. now Franc holds it of Drogo. Then and after- wards 16 bordars, now 19. Then as now 2 serfs. Then and afterwards I plough on the demesne, now 2. Then as now 3 ploughs be- longing to the men. And 2 acres of meadow. Wood(land) for 100 swine. A church with 5 acres. And 1 rouncey. And now i beast. Then 12 swine, now 24, and 25 sheep. Then as now it was worth /^.os. It is i league long and half a league broad. And (pays) i\d. in geld. Rada, Drogo's predecessor, had soke and sac. To this manor Humphrey de Sancto Bertino added I freeman with 12 acres, over whom his predecessor had commendation T.R.E. Then as now 1 bordar. And half a plough. Worth 2s.}}

19th century gazetteer descriptions

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Church_Cottage,Sotherton-geograph.org.uk-_439527.jpg" caption="Church Cottage, Sotherton"] ::

In 1868 The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland:

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales:

And in 1894-5 The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales:

St Andrews Church

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/St_Andrews_Church,Sotherton-geograph.org.uk-_439505.jpg" caption="St Andrews Church, Sotherton"] ::

The parish church is dedicated to St Andrew and is located on a small dead-end lane signposted off the A145. It is a Grade II* listed building. It possesses a fine 1811 bust of John Rous, 1st Earl of Stradbroke by Nollekens, and a good late C13 effigy of a knight, of which the British Museum possesses 2 C19 prints.

Global Village Trucking Company

In the 1970s Jeremy and James Lascelles, sons of the 7th Earl of Harewood, had a commune in Church Farm, with their band Global Village Trucking Company, roadies, etc. Jeremy Thorpe was a regular visitor. The writer Dinah Jefferies lived there, and has written about her experiences. In 1973 the BBC made a documentary film about the rock group living in a Suffolk commune with their families, friends, roadies and managers. They made a follow-up in 2003. Church Farm is now a holiday let.

Sotherton Hall

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Sotherton_Hall_entrance_-geograph.org.uk-_439531.jpg" caption="Sotherton Hall drive"] ::

Sotherton Hall is a grade II listed Tudor timber framed farmhouse or Hall house with a shaped brick gable end, set by a listed 17th/18th century timber framed and weatherboarded barn, in a small park towards the north of the parish mentioned by Nikolaus Pevsner. It belonged to the Earls of Stradbroke, as part of the Henham Park estate, until 1951 when it became part of the Blyford Estate of John Hill.

Notes

References

References

1. [https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Planning/Neighbourhood-Planning/Town-and-village-profiles/Sotherton-Village-Profile.pdf Village profile: Sotherton], [[East Suffolk District Council]], 2019. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
2. [http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/38314C3E-02A0-4515-92FE-8909C6FDB3A3/0/Parishestimates01to05.pdf Estimates of Total Population of Areas in Suffolk], [[Suffolk County Council]], 2007-05-01. Retrieved 2009-04-19. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20081219023551/http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/38314C3E-02A0-4515-92FE-8909C6FDB3A3/0/Parishestimates01to05.pdf Archived], 2008-12-19.)
3. [https://www.healthysuffolk.org.uk/uploads/Blyford___Sotherton-_Parish_Profile.pdf Blyford & Sotherton], Healthy Suffolk, 2016. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
4. [https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Planning/Neighbourhood-Planning/Town-and-village-profiles/Blyford.pdf Village profile: Blyford], [[East Suffolk District Council]], 2019. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
5. (1907). "The Victoria history of the county of Suffolk".
6. "Genuki: Sotherton, Suffolk".
7. "History of Sotherton, in Waveney and Suffolk | Map and description".
8. "Sotherton, Suffolk - genealogy heraldry and history".
9. [http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sotherton.htm The Suffolk Churches site]. Retrieved 2009-04-19
10. [http://www.waveney.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/57796773-75AF-41BE-956F-CF44CE38BD01/0/listed_buildings.pdf Listed Buildings in Waveney District Area]{{dead link. (May 2018)
11. Suffolk By Nikolaus Pevsner, Enid Radcliffe, p424
12. "Collection".
13. (2014-06-14). "My children grew up in a commune".
14. "BBC Four - What Happened Next?, Global Village Trucking Co".
15. "BARN 20 METRES EAST OF SOTHERTON HALL, Sotherton - 1032094 | Historic England".
16. Stuff, Good. "Sotherton Hall - Sotherton - Suffolk - England {{!}} British Listed Buildings".
17. "THE HILL ARCHIVE GUIDE".

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