Seven strange but true facts about Suffolk including from Bury St Edmunds, Great Finborough, Lakenheath and Shottisham

Did you know that our wonderful county of Suffolk is home to strange and unique facts?

We’ve rounded up some of the most unusual tales featured in the book, Suffolk Strange But True, written by Robert Halliday.

From the woman who went five month’s without eating to lost villages and endangered species, here’s seven things you didn’t know about where you live.

The Shottisham Angel

Elizabeth Squirrell, nicknamed the Shottisham Angel, reportedly lived five months without eating and drinking. She lived during the Victorian era and was the daughter of a Shottisham tradesman and the granddaughter of a Baptist minister.

By the age of five, she could read and at eight she could recite pages of books from memory. She became infected with a spinal disease and after that her appetite ceased, only consuming milk and sugar. At this point, she said she lost her sight and hearing and began having visions of angels. From May 1852, she stopped eating completely but lost little weight. Suspicions were raised when it was claimed that Elizabeth’s parents were caught feeding her food. Eventually the family left Shottisham and it is thought Elizabeth married and lived into the 20th century.

The man who coined Communism

Did you know that the man who invented the word Communism was actually from Yoxford, near Southwold? John Goodwyn Barmby was born in 1820. In his teenage years he became involved in Owenism, which aimed for radical reform of society, and Chartism, a working class movement. He spoke of these issues at local and national rallies. While visiting Paris in 1840, he suggested a new name to describe the ideals of the time – Communism. He later became a minister.

The Race of the Bogmen

A long forgotten tradition was revived in 1976 by a farmer who discovered an agricultural workers’ contract the year before while repairing a roof at Boyton Hall Farmhouse at Great Finborough, near Stowmarket.

It was this discovery by farmer Trevor Waspe that once again sparked a tradition in which teams from Haughley and Great Finborough race to carry the contract through the door of the Chestnut Horse Pub every Easter Monday. It was a way to mark the agricultural year, but it was forgotten with the First World War. After its revival by Trevor, the tradition has continued ever since.

Missing species

The Pashford pot beetle, named after its ability to make small clay pots to live in, was known to be only found at Pashford Poor’s Fen at Lakenheath, but it has not been seen since 2002. It has been listed as a missing species.

Lost village

Wordwell, near Bury St Edmunds, appeared in the Domesday Book as a village of 18 families, but the Poll Tax of 1377 showed only 19 adults. It is thought that the village was badly affected by the Black Death. By the end of the 18th century, the only buildings left standing was the church, one of the smallest in Suffolk, the manor farmhouse and a shepherd’s hut.

A rock with a purpose?

A stone cross base outside West Suffolk College in Risbygate Street, Bury, marked the boundary of the Liberty of St Edmund. There is a hollow in the top and legend says that during a plague, it was filled with vinegar and people dipped their coins to stop the plague from spreading.

Roadside grave

Some suicides were buried at cross roads at parish boundaries – an example of this is the Boy’s Grave, which is a well-kept grave at a crossroad on the edge of Moulton on the road from Newmarket to Kentford.

The practice was abolished in 1823 but came from the belief that the ghost would be unable to find its way back home. It is thought that the grave is tended to by gypsies in secret.

Robert’s book can be bought on Amazon for £16.99.