Boyton, Suffolk
Boyton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about eight miles east of Woodbridge, and close to Orford Ness. Boyton is a small village in South East England and is part of the heritage coast. In the Domesday Book of 1086 Boyton was recorded under the name "Bohtuna". The village has a number of facilities within the surrounding area, for instance Hollesley primary school, a village primary school for children aged 4–11 years. Boyton village hall is becoming a focus for new village activities, and HM Prison Hollesley Bay is also located not far from the village centre. In the 1870s Boyton was described by John Marius Wilson as:
According to statistics from the 2011 census, Boyton had a population of 147. The village name 'Boyton' can be translated to "farmstead of the boys or servants".
Land use
Boyton covers a total of 6648 km2 of land, the bulk of that land is made up of what is named green space ; described as "an open piece of land that is undeveloped and is accessible to the public, which is usually partly or completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs, or other vegetation". According to data from the Office Of National statistics, 12.5 km2 of boytons land area is covered by domestic buildings, because not a great amount of Boytons land area is covered by domestic buildings, it can be deducted that the Parish has a low population density. Boyton also uses 19 km2 of land for road usage, a large proportion of which is accountable to Boyton Road, the main road running through the Parish linking it to larger villages such as Hollesley to the South West.History
As long as 8000 years ago groups of hunters would come to Boyton in order to take advantage of the marshlands which were full of fish and wild fowl which the hunters would catch with nets, hooks and flint-tipped weapons. Copious amounts of evidence exist as proof of continuous settlement in the town of Boyton throughout history, for instance a "Bronze Age gold torque was found in Boyton and a replica can be seen in the Ipswich Museum - the original is with the British Museum". However, little is known about Boyton's usage throughout the Dark Ages and thereon after until the 16th Century, however, because the Parish is located on the suffolk coast it is possible that Boyton may have been one of the first settlements for immigrants arriving into the country. It was also discovered that the North East section of Boyton "had an important Anglo Saxon settlement and has been excavated by the Butley Excavation Group with students from London University and local volunteers.".Boyton's usage remained for that of agricultural and fishing purposes, and these honest trades kept the small Parish reasonably self-sufficient until the late 18th century. Smuggling became a common occurrence to Boyton and the rest of the Suffolk coast, it was reported that local people who had previously remained within the honest agricultural trade "were recruited by the notorious Captain Bargood who had cottages at Hollesley and Butley".
After World War I, the agriculture market within Boyton began to decline, and as a result trustees began to sell off their land, including the three farms "Valley farm, Dock farm and Laurel farm ". This slump in demand for agriculture was to be revitalised upon the beginning of World War II, when the production of home grown food regained its importance due to the newfound struggle of importing foods both across countries and across the UK itself. "During World War 2 the Boyton area was a tank range, and the remains of a military building are still visible today"
The 1970s and 1980s brought the production of a small number of detached properties in an attempt to regain a "community spirit" despite the fact that the village shop and post office had now closed. Other than this "the recent acquisition of 175 acres of Boyton Marsh by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds will benefit not only wildlife and the visitors who come to enjoy it, but the village too "