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Charnel house

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A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves. The term can also be used more generally as a description of a place filled with death and destruction.

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61-412: The term is borrowed from Middle French charnel , from Late Latin carnāle ("graveyard"), from Latin carnālis ("of the flesh"). In countries where ground suitable for burial was scarce, corpses would be interred for approximately five years following death, thereby allowing decomposition to occur. After this, the remains would be exhumed and moved to an ossuary or charnel house, thereby allowing

122-535: A Tyke from Yorkshire and a Yellowbelly from Lincolnshire . A traditional nickname for people from Suffolk is "Suffolk Fair-Maids", referring to the supposed beauty of its female inhabitants in the Middle Ages. Another is "Silly Suffolk", often assumed to be derived from the Old English word sælig in the meaning "blessed", referring to the long history of Christianity in the county. However, use of

183-473: A comprehensive education system with fourteen independent schools. Unusually for the UK, some of Suffolk had a 3-tier school system in place with primary schools (ages 5–9), middle schools (ages 9–13) and upper schools (ages 13–16). However, a 2006 Suffolk County Council study concluded that Suffolk should move to the two-tier school system used in the majority of the UK. For the purpose of conversion to two-tier,

244-603: A sword of state , helmet , gold and silver bowls, jewellery and a lyre . The Hoxne Hoard , to date the largest assembly of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, was found near the village of Hoxne in 1992. While carrying out surveys before installing a pipeline in 2014, archaeologists for Anglian Water discovered nine skeletons and four cremation pits, at Bardwell , Barnham , Pakenham and Rougham , all near Bury St Edmunds. Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and medieval items were also unearthed, along with

305-564: A base in Sudbury. The UK horse racing industry is based in Newmarket. There are two United States Air Force bases in the west of the county close to the A11 . Sizewell B nuclear power station is at Sizewell on the coast near Leiston . Bernard Matthews Farms have some processing units in the county, specifically Holton . Southwold is the home of Adnams Brewery . The Port of Felixstowe

366-527: A countywide constitutional convention". Following the May 2010 general election , all further moves towards any of the suggested unitary solutions ceased on the instructions of the incoming Cameron–Clegg coalition . In 2018 it was determined that Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury would be merged to form a new West Suffolk district, while Waveney and Suffolk Coastal would similarly form a new East Suffolk district. West Suffolk , like nearby East Cambridgeshire ,

427-734: A fifth of the schools inspected were judged inadequate. This is unacceptable and now means that Suffolk has a higher proportion of pupils educated in inadequate schools than both the regional and national averages." The Royal Hospital School near Ipswich is the largest independent boarding school in Suffolk. Other boarding schools within Suffolk include Barnardiston Hall Preparatory School, Culford School , Finborough School , Framlingham College , Ipswich High School , Ipswich School , Orwell Park School , Saint Felix School and Woodbridge School . The Castle Partnership Academy Trust in Haverhill

488-411: A large number had been decapitated , which archaeologists claimed gave new insight into Roman traditions. The burial ground includes the remains of men, women and children who likely lived in a nearby settlement. The fact that up to 40% of the bodies were decapitated represents "quite a rare find". A survey in 2020 named Suffolk the third best place in the UK for aspiring archaeologists, and showed that

549-684: A medieval charnel house was uncovered, "containing an estimated 7000 human remains organised in a chequer-board pattern. Some of the skulls were placed in a linear arrangement, with the remainder of human bones placed in a macabre looking pile of bones." At the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds , Suffolk , around 1300 the abbot requested the "charnel chapel to be built, as an act of piety and charity … of shaped stone, and in future bones could be placed in it or buried under its vaults, and provided with two chaplains to serve this 'most celebrated place'". Middle French Middle French ( French : moyen français )

610-488: A shade of pink that was not traditional Suffolk Pink. He was required by local authorities to repaint. In another example of Suffolk taking its colours seriously, a homeowner in Lavenham was obligated to paint their Grade I listed cottage Suffolk Pink, to make it match a neighbouring property. The local council said it wanted all of the cottages on that particular part of the road to be the same colour, because they were

671-459: A single building historically (300 years earlier). The historic Suffolk Pink colour has also inspired the name of a British apple. Suffolk is also home to nature reserves, such as the RSPB site at Minsmere , and Trimley Marshes , a wetland under the protection of Suffolk Wildlife Trust . The clay plateau inland, deeply intercut by rivers , is often referred to as 'High Suffolk'. The west of

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732-652: A traditional limewash mix. Additives used in this process include pig or ox blood with buttermilk , elderberries and sloe juice. Locals and historians often state that a true Suffolk Pink should be a "deep dusky terracotta shade", rather than the more popular pastel hue of modern times. This has caused controversy in the past when home and business-owners alike have been reprimanded for using colours deemed incorrect, with some being forced to repaint to an acceptable shade. In 2013, famous chef Marco Pierre White had his 15th-century hotel, The Angel, in Lavenham, decorated

793-740: A variety of vegetables. The continuing importance of agriculture in the county is reflected in the Suffolk Show , which is held annually in May at Ipswich. Although latterly somewhat changed in nature, this remains primarily an agricultural show . Companies based in Suffolk include Greene King and Branston Pickle in Bury St Edmunds. Birds Eye has its largest UK factory in Lowestoft, where all its meat products and frozen vegetables are processed. Huntley & Palmers biscuit company has

854-553: A word's spelling and pronunciation. Nevertheless, Middle French spelling was overall fairly close to the pronunciation; unlike Modern French, word-final consonants were still pronounced though they were optionally lost when they preceded another consonant that started the next word. The French wars in Italy and the presence of Italians in the French court brought the French into contact with Italian humanism . Many words dealing with

915-756: Is a banner of arms of the coat of arms which were attributed to Edmund the Martyr , a medieval king of East Anglia . It consists of two gold arrows passing through a gold crown or with heraldic description as Azure two Arrows in saltire, points downwards, enfiled with an ancient Crown Or . Novels set in Suffolk include parts of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens , The Fourth Protocol , by Frederick Forsyth , Unnatural Causes by P.D. James , Dodie Smith 's The Hundred and One Dalmatians , The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald , and among Arthur Ransome 's children's books, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea , Coot Club and Secret Water take place in part in

976-549: Is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which: It is the first version of French that is largely intelligible to Modern French, contrary to Old French . The most important change found in Middle French is the complete disappearance of the noun declension system, which had been underway for centuries. There

1037-526: Is held at Glemham Hall in August and attracts international acoustic, folk and roots musicians whilst also championing local businesses, heritage and crafts. In 2015 it was also home to the first instrumental festival of musical instruments and makers. More recently, LeeStock Music Festival has been held in Sudbury . A celebration of the county, "Suffolk Day", was instigated in 2017. The Suffolk dialect

1098-690: Is renowned for archaeological finds from the Stone Age , the Bronze Age , and the Iron Age . Bronze Age artefacts have been found in the area between Mildenhall and West Row, in Eriswell and in Lakenheath . In the east of the county is Sutton Hoo , the site of one of England's most significant Anglo-Saxon archaeological finds, a ship burial containing a collection of treasures including

1159-874: Is the oxlip . According to estimates by the Office for National Statistics , the population of Suffolk in 2014 was 738,512, split almost evenly between males and females. Roughly 22% of the population was aged 65 or older, and 90.84% were White British . Historically, the county's population has mostly been employed as agricultural workers. An 1835 survey showed Suffolk to have 4,526 occupiers of land employing labourers, 1,121 occupiers not employing labourers, 33,040 labourers employed in agriculture, 676 employed in manufacture, 18,167 employed in retail trade or handicraft, 2,228 'capitalists, bankers etc.', 5,336 labourers (non-agricultural), 4,940 other males aged over 20, 2,032 male servants and 11,483 female servants. Most English counties have nicknames for people from that county, such as

1220-858: Is the county's only All-through Academy Chain. Comprising Castle Manor Academy and Place Farm Primary Academy, the Academy Trust supports all-through education and provides opportunities for young people aged 3 to 18. Sixth form colleges in the county include Lowestoft Sixth Form College and One in Ipswich. Suffolk is home to four further education colleges: Lowestoft College , Easton & Otley College , Suffolk New College and Northgate Sixth Form (Ipswich) and West Suffolk College (Bury St Edmunds). The county has one university, with branches spread across different towns. The present University of Suffolk was, prior to August 2016, known as University Campus Suffolk . Up until it became independent it

1281-471: Is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Other ports are at Lowestoft and Ipswich, run by Associated British Ports . BT Group plc has its main research and development facility at Martlesham Heath . Below is a chart of regional gross value added of Suffolk at basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Suffolk has

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1342-512: Is very distinctive. Epenthesis and yod-dropping is common, along with non-conjugation of verbs. The county's sole professional football club is Ipswich Town . Formed in 1878, the club were Football League champions in 1961–62 , FA Cup winners in 1977–78 and UEFA Cup winners in 1980–81 ; as of the 2024–25 season , Ipswich Town play in the Premier League , the top tier of English football. The club has as part of its crest

1403-528: The East of England and East Anglia . It is bordered by Norfolk to the north , the North Sea to the east , Essex to the south , and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county town . The county has an area of 3,798 km (1,466 sq mi) and a population of 758,556. After Ipswich (144,957) in the south , the largest towns are Lowestoft (73,800) in

1464-697: The National Stud , and Newmarket Racecourse . Tattersalls bloodstock auctioneers and the National Horseracing Museum are also in the town. Point to point racing takes place at Higham and Ampton . Speedway racing has been staged in Suffolk since at least the 1950s, following the construction of the Foxhall Stadium , just outside Ipswich, home of the Ipswich Witches . The Witches are currently members of

1525-709: The Premier League , the UK's first division. National League team Mildenhall Fen Tigers are also from Suffolk. Suffolk County Cricket Club compete in the Eastern Division of the Minor Counties Championship . The club has won the championship three times outright and has shared the title one other time as well as winning the MCCA Knockout Trophy once. Home games are played in Bury St Edmunds, Copdock , Exning , Framlingham , Ipswich and Mildenhall. The Suffolk flag

1586-546: The Suffolk Punch , a now endangered breed of draught horse native to the county. The next highest ranked team in Suffolk is Needham Market , who participate in the National League North, the sixth tier of English football. The town of Newmarket is the headquarters of British horseracing – home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country and many key horse racing organisations including

1647-484: The 7th century in Oulton, near Lowestoft . The graves contained the remains of men, women and children, as well as artefacts including small iron knives and silver pennies, wrist clasps, strings of amber and glass beads. According to Andrew Peachey, who carried out the excavations, the skeletons had mostly vanished because of the highly acidic soil. They, fortunately, were preserved as brittle shapes and "sand silhouettes" in

1708-615: The Americas ( cacao , hamac , maïs ). The influence of the Anglo-Norman language on English had left words of French and Norman origin in England. Some words of Romance origin now found their way back into French as doublets through war and trade. Also, the meaning and usage of many words from Old French transformed. Spelling and punctuation were extremely variable. The introduction of printing in 1470 highlighted

1769-535: The French Language ) (1549) by the poet Joachim du Bellay , which maintained that French, like the Tuscan of Petrarch and Dante Alighieri , was a worthy language for literary expression and promulgated a program of linguistic production and purification, including the imitation of Latin genres. Suffolk Suffolk ( / ˈ s ʌ f ə k / SUF -ək ) is a ceremonial county in

1830-575: The Norfolk border and Dedham Vale on the Essex border. It is also known for its extensive farming and has largely arable land . Newmarket is known for horse racing , and Felixstowe is one of the largest container ports in Europe . The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Suffolk, and East Anglia generally, occurred on a large scale, possibly following a period of depopulation by the previous inhabitants,

1891-804: The Reformation. Because they were associated with the Catholic Church, using charnel houses fell out of practice after the Reformation to the point that modern people barely knew they had existed. "Charnelling continued with gusto throughout the late medieval period. However, in the mid-16th century the Dissolution of the Monasteries changed their standing completely. No longer were charnels things of status, instead becoming symbols of close living-dead relations which reflected Popish superstition." The charnel house at Spitalfields , for example,

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1952-529: The Romanised descendants of the Iceni . By the fifth century, they had established control of the region. The Anglo-Saxon inhabitants later became the "north folk" and the "south folk", from which developed the names "Norfolk" and "Suffolk". Suffolk was divided into four separate Quarter Sessions divisions, which met at Beccles , Bury St Edmunds , Ipswich and Woodbridge . In 1860, the number of divisions

2013-696: The act was passed into law. In 2007 the Department for Communities and Local Government referred Ipswich Borough Council 's bid to become a new unitary authority to the Boundary Committee . Beginning in February 2008, the Boundary Committee again reviewed local government in the county, with two possible options emerging. One was that of splitting Suffolk into two unitary authorities – Ipswich and Felixstowe and Rural Suffolk; and

2074-467: The annual Aldeburgh Festival is one of the UK's major classical music festivals. Originating in Aldeburgh , it has been held at the nearby Snape Maltings since 1967. Since 2006, Henham Park , has been home to the annual Latitude Festival . This mainly open-air festival, which has grown considerably in size and scope, includes popular music, comedy, poetry and literary events. The FolkEast festival

2135-507: The area was especially rich in finds from the Roman period, with over 1500 objects found in the preceding year. In July 2020, metal detectorist Luke Mahoney found 1,061 silver hammered coins, estimated to be worth £100,000, in Ipswich. The coins dated back to the 15th–17th century, according to experts. In September 2020, archaeologists announced the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery with seventeen cremations and 191 burials dating back to

2196-458: The brethren of St. Catherine's have struggled to eke out a subsistence-level existence. The difficulty in establishing a large cemetery in the rocky ground notwithstanding, relics are also gathered for temporal and spiritual reasons: a reminder to the monks of their impending death and fate in the hereafter. The Archbishop of Saint Catherine's is commonly the Abbot as well. After death, he is afforded

2257-578: The continued unification of French, the suppression of certain forms, and the prescription of rules, leading to Classical French. Middle French is the language found in the writings of Charles, Duke of Orléans , François Villon , Clément Marot , François Rabelais , Michel de Montaigne , Pierre de Ronsard , and the poets of La Pléiade . The affirmation and glorification of French finds its greatest manifestation in La Défense et illustration de la langue française ( The Defense and Illustration of

2318-540: The county lies on more resistant Cretaceous chalk . This chalk is responsible for a sweeping tract of largely downland landscapes that stretches from Dorset in the south west to Dover in the south east and north through East Anglia to the Yorkshire Wolds . The chalk is less easily eroded so forms the only significant hills in the county. The highest point in the county is Great Wood Hill , with an elevation of 128 metres (420 ft). The county flower

2379-670: The county. Roald Dahl's short story "The Mildenhall Treasure" is set in Mildenhall. A TV series about a British antiques dealer, Lovejoy , was filmed in various locations in Suffolk. The reality TV series Space Cadets was filmed in Rendlesham Forest , although the producers fooled participants into believing that they were in Russia. Several towns and villages in the county have been used for location filming of other television programmes and cinema films. These include

2440-672: The dignity of a special niche within the "Skull-House". A charnel house is also a structure commonly seen in some Native American societies of the Eastern United States. Major examples are the Hopewell cultures and Mississippian cultures . These houses were used specifically for mortuary services and, although they required many more resources to build and maintain than a crypt , they were widely used. They offered privacy and shelter as well as enough workspace for mortuary proceedings. These proceedings included cremation (in

2501-540: The elites, Latin was still the language of education, administration, and bureaucracy. That changed in 1539, with the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts , in which Francis I made French the sole language for legal acts. Regional differences were still extreme throughout the Kingdom of France : in the south of France, Occitan languages dominated; in east-central France, Franco-Provençal languages were predominant; and in

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2562-624: The included crematorium) as well as defleshing of the body before the cremation. Once the houses had served their purpose, they were burned to the ground and covered by earth, creating a sort of burial mound . Anthropologist William F. Romain in Mysteries of the Hopewell notes that these charnel houses were built in the form of a square, and their diagonals could be aligned to the direction of maximum and minimum moon-sets both north and south. Charnel houses were common in England, primarily before

2623-453: The latter is 25.5 km (15.8 mi) long and separated from the North Sea by Orford Ness , a large spit . Large parts of the coast are backed by heath and wetland habitats , such as Sandlings . The north-east of the county contains part of the Broads , a network of rivers and lakes . Inland, the landscape is flat and gently undulating, and contains part of Thetford Forest on

2684-431: The military ( alarme , cavalier , espion , infanterie , camp , canon , soldat ) and artistic (especially architectural: arcade , architrave , balcon , corridor ; also literary: sonnet ) practices were borrowed from Italian. Those tendencies would continue through Classical French . There were also some borrowings from Spanish ( casque ) and German ( reître ) and from

2745-405: The more common primary to high school (11–16). Many of the county's upper schools have a sixth form and most further education colleges in the county offer A-level courses. In terms of school population, Suffolk's individual schools are large with the Ipswich district with the largest school population and Forest Heath the smallest, with just two schools. In 2013, a letter said that "...nearly

2806-475: The need for reform in spelling . One proposed reform came from Jacques Peletier du Mans , who developed a phonetic spelling system and introduced new typographic signs (1550), but his attempt at spelling reform was not followed. The period saw the publication of the first French grammars and of the French-Latin dictionary of Robert Estienne (1539). At the beginning of the 17th century, French would see

2867-490: The nine skeletons believed to be of the late or Post-Roman Britain . Experts said the five-month project had recovered enough artefacts to fill half a shipping container, and that the discoveries had shed new light on their understanding of the development of small rural communities. In 2019 an excavation of a 4th-century Roman burial in Great Whelnetham uncovered unusual burial practices. Of 52 skeletons found,

2928-412: The north of France, Oïl languages other than Francien continued to be spoken. The fascination with classical texts led to numerous borrowings from Latin and Greek . Numerous neologisms based on Latin roots were introduced, and some scholars modified the spelling of French words to bring them into conformity with their Latin roots, sometimes erroneously. That often produced a radical difference between

2989-459: The north-east and Bury St Edmunds (40,664) in the west. Suffolk contains five local government districts , which are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county also called Suffolk . The Suffolk coastline is a complex habitat , formed by London clay and crag underlain by chalk and therefore susceptible to erosion . It contains several deep estuaries , including those of the rivers Blyth , Deben , Orwell , Stour , and Alde/Ore ;

3050-579: The original burial place to be reused. In modern times, the use of charnel houses is a characteristic of cultures living in rocky or arid places, such as the Cyclades archipelago and other Greek islands in the Aegean Sea . Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula is famous for having a working charnel house. Saint Catherine's was founded by Justinian in the early 6th century on

3111-405: The other, that of creating a single county-wide controlling authority – the "One Suffolk" option. In February 2010, the then-Minister Rosie Winterton announced that no changes would be imposed on the structure of local government in the county as a result of the review, but that the government would be: "asking Suffolk councils and MPs to reach a consensus on what unitary solution they want through

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3172-418: The sand. Villages and towns in Suffolk are renowned for historic, pink-washed halls and cottages, which has become known far and wide as "Suffolk Pink". Decorative paint colours found in the county can range from a pale shell shade, to a deep blush brick colour. According to research, Suffolk Pink dates back to the 14th century, when these shades were developed by local dyers by adding natural substances to

3233-606: The site of an older monastery, founded about 313 AD and named for Helena of Constantinople . The monastery comprises the whole Autonomous Church of Sinai under the Patriarchate of Jerusalem . The site lies at the foot of what some believe to be the biblical Mount Sinai where Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe Moses received the Ten Commandments . Since the Sinai Peninsula is an inhospitable place,

3294-559: The term "Silly Suffolk" can actually be dated to no earlier than 1819, and its alleged medieval origins have been shown to be mythical. The majority of agriculture in Suffolk is either agronomy or mixed farming . Farm sizes vary from anything around 80 acres (32 hectares) to over 8,000. Soil types vary from heavy clays to light sands. Crops grown include winter wheat , barley , sugar beet , oilseed rape , winter and spring beans and linseed , although smaller areas of rye and oats can be found growing in areas with lighter soils along with

3355-466: The three-tier system was divided into four geographical area groupings and corresponding phases. The first phase was the conversion of schools in Lowestoft and Haverhill in 2011, followed by schools in north and west Suffolk in 2012. The remainder of the changeovers to two-tier took place from 2013, for those schools that stayed within local government control, and did not become Academies and/or free schools . The majority of schools thus now (2019) operate

3416-593: The unified county of Suffolk. The county was divided into several local government districts : Babergh , Forest Heath , Ipswich , Mid Suffolk , St Edmundsbury , Suffolk Coastal , and Waveney . This act also transferred some land near Great Yarmouth to Norfolk. As introduced in Parliament, the Local Government Act would have transferred Newmarket and Haverhill to Cambridgeshire and Colchester from Essex; such changes were not included when

3477-709: Was a collaboration between the University of Essex and the University of East Anglia which sponsored its formation and validated its degrees. UOS accepted its first students in September 2007. Until then Suffolk was one of only four counties in England which did not have a university campus. The University of Suffolk was granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in November 2015, and in May 2016 it

3538-593: Was awarded University status by the Privy Council and renamed The University of Suffolk on 1 August 2016. The university operates at five sites, with its central hub in Ipswich. Others include Lowestoft, Bury St. Edmunds, and Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. The university is organised in four academic schools and in 2022/23 had 13,700 students. 88% of the student body are aged over 21 and 46% of university students are male. Founded in 1948 by Benjamin Britten ,

3599-505: Was in use during Roman times through to the medieval period. "As a large burial ground that was much-used over the space of several centuries, it would not be unusual for old bones to be disturbed when new graves were being dug. These bones would be removed from the ground to make space for newly-buried corpses, and stored instead in the churchyard's charnel house." During the 1950s reconstruction of St. Bride's Church in Fleet Street,

3660-410: Was no longer a distinction between nominative and oblique forms of nouns , and plurals became indicated by simply an s . The transformations necessitated an increased reliance on word order in the sentence, which becomes more or less the syntax of Modern but with a continued reliance on the verb in the second position of a sentence, or " verb-second structure ", until the 16th century. Among

3721-655: Was reduced to two, when the Beccles, Ipswich and Woodbridge divisions merged into an East Suffolk division, administered from Ipswich, and the old Bury St Edmunds division became the West Suffolk division. Under the Local Government Act 1888 , the two divisions were made the separate administrative counties of East Suffolk and West Suffolk ; On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 , East Suffolk, West Suffolk, and Ipswich were merged to form

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