Sotterley

Sotterley, originally "Southern-lea" from its situation south of the river, is a parish in Wangford Hundred, East Suffolk, near Beccles and is primarily agricultural.

The county antiquary Alfred Suckling ("The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk ") describes Sotterley in the late 1500s as part of honour of Eastry, valued around ten pounds and belonging to Thomas Playters. In 1642 Playter's descendant was M.P. for Oxford and Vice Admiral of Suffolk, and later in the Civil War rector of Uggeshall and Sotterley. John Walker in chronicling the sufferings of the clergy records that when 'rebels brake open the stable doors and stole two horses' from the parsonage he challenged them, after which they are said to have replied 'Pistoll the Parson', discharging two pistols at him.

In 1744 Sotterley manor was sold to Miles Barne, the son of a London merchant. The parish was enclosed in 1796 leaving Miles Barne, with 1,085 acres, as the largest landholder. The national census of 1801 records 254 inhabitants, which reduced to 221 by 1901.

References

"Victoria County History of Suffolk", Vol. I (ed. W. Page), Institute of Historical Research;

A.G. Mathews, "Walker Revised being a revision of John Walker's, Sufferings of the Clergy" (1948)