Blythburgh: The Suffolk Cathedral of the Marshes

Blythburgh in Focus

By Alan Mackley | Paperback | 208 pages | £14.99 | ISBN 9781036997014

Blythburgh is rightly celebrated for its grand parish church, ‘The Cathedral of the Marshes’. This lively collection adds much more to the village story. From the age of Sutton Hoo to the present day, from Anglo-Saxon eminence to Victorian poverty and then recovery, Blythburgh’s progress is followed. In a cavalcade of characters, royalty jostles with painters and musicians, lords of the manor, spies, spectral hounds and ne’er do wells. This is not a usual village history. It is a sparkling account of historical connections that will be an enduring source for anyone interested in Blythburgh and its setting.

Historian Alan Mackley has lived in Blythburgh for nearly half a century. Blythburgh in Focus is a collection of pieces he has written for the Blythburgh village newsletter over a period of 25 years. The subjects are mainly historical and archaeological, with the original texts supplemented by notes, illustrations and an index. The writing style is popular rather than academic and it is not a formal history of Blythburgh although it will be a valuable source book for writing one. There are 12 full-page illustrations, 8 of which are in colour, and 40 small illustrations wrapped in the text, 25 in colour. The cover is designed by internationally-respected book illustrator Jeff Fisher (‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ etc.).

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