A Brief History of Eye
Photo: Mid Suffolk District Council
The town of Eye derives its name from the
Malet founded the Benedictine Priory of St
Saxon word for island being almost entirely
Peter, a cell of the Abbey of Bernay in
surrounded by water and marshland formed
Normandy.
by the River Dove and its tributaries.
Eye Castle began to lose its strategic
There have been Palaeolithic,
importance after 1173 when it was attacked by
Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age finds in
Hugh Bigod, during the rebellion against Henry
and around Eye but the earliest evidence of
II, and later during the Second Barons’
settlement dates from the Roman period and
War after which it never regained its former
includes buildings and coins circa 365.
status.
Before the Norman Conquest, Eye was one of
A windmill, built in 1561–62, stood on the motte
the holdings of Edric of Laxfield, a wealthy and
until the circular mock keep was built in 1844
influential Saxon and the third largest land
by General Sir Edmund Kerrison.
holder in Suffolk.
Through the centuries Eye remained a
After the Conquest, the importance of Eye was
relatively small, although not insignificant
firmly established in the region when the
settlement and prospered as a market town
Honour of Eye was granted to William Malet, a
with an annual Whit Monday Fair and two MPs!
Norman Lord. Between 1066 and 1071, Malet
Eye was once the smallest borough in the
constructed a castle occupying the higher
Country and borough status was not
ground to the East end of the Island with a
discontinued until 1974 after government
large bailey (approximately 2 acres) stretching
reorganisation when Eye became a civil parish
westward .
but retained a Town Council, a Mayor and its
Later in 1086-7, William's son Robert
insignia. Andrew Evitt
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