Southwold Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Suwald

In the civil parish of Southwold.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TM5076
Latitude 52.32276° Longitude 1.67430°

Southwold Town Defences has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

Turner writes of C16 fortifications 'the plan was to isolate the town by a wall on the landward side.' This may be a reference to Higham Bulwark which was on the north side.
The town is naturally well defended by surrounding rivers and marshland and gateways on the one or two causewayed entrances to the medieval town would have been enough to secure the trade of the town, although attack from the sea would not have been so prevented. However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of any such work.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (slight)
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 262, 264
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 138
  Gardner, T., 1754, An Historical Account of Dunwich online copy
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1910, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1258-66) Vol. 5 p. 108 (licence to crenellate) online copy
  Lemon, Robert (ed), 1865, Calendar of state papers, Domestic series, of the reign of Elizabeth 1581-90 Vol. 2 (London: Longman) p. 569 (Vol. 219 f.62) online copy
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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