We were on holiday in Suffolk recently and I became fascinated by the town and village signs. Every town, and every village with a population of more than ten seems to have one. They usually depict events, things, people or places associated with the town or village. They are often quite intricately carved and painted.
I have annotated the photo I took of the sign for Stratford St Andrewto try to show the thinking behind the symbolism on the signs.
Not all of them are as complex in concept as that one. Some such as the Beccles and the Southwold signs show a specific event in the town’s history.
The Beccles town sign shows Queen Elizabeth I handing the Charter of the Corporation of Beccles to John Bass in 1584
The Southwold town sign depicts the Battle of Sole Bay which took place in 1672 between the Dutch.and the combined English and French Fleets
The slide show below includes some of the others that I came across.
A Scotsman in Suburbia 
I am sure they changed the sign at Southwold in the early nineties to commemerate the visit by Lord and Lady Wallington and their first born. They must have changed it back again. !!
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They must have done, as that was the one that I saw a couple of weeks ago.
I suppose they could have re-erected the commemorative sign round the back of the Adnam’s brewery where I would have missed it.
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