Sotterley

Sotterley, originally Southern-lea from its situation south of the river, is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk, located approximately 4 miles (6 km) south-east of Beccles and 1.5 miles (2 km) east of Willingham St Mary and Shadingfield. The parish is primarily agricultural with a dispersed population of 113 at the 2011 census. The parish council operates to administer jointly the parishes of Shadingfield, Willingham St Mary, Sotterley and Ellough.

Sotterley Hall remains at the centre of the parish which now has very few basic services. A saw mill operates in the village, often making use of wood from the 160 hectares (400 acres) of mixed woodland managed by the Sotterley estate.

At the Domesday Survey in 1086 Sotterley was known as Soterlega and was part of the estate of Earl Hugh of Chester in Wangford Hundred. The village had a population of about 21 households and was held by Mundred the Sheriff who also held the lost village of Croscroft in Wangford Hundred.

Sotterley was held by Roger de Soterley in 1242 and continued in the family until about 1470 when it was confiscated due to the family's involvement in a rebellion led by the Earl of Warwick during the Wars of the Roses. Edward IV then gave the manor to Thomas Playters. A stained glass window in Sotterley Church commemorated the death of Thomas Playters in 1479.

A descendant, also called Thomas, was High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1606 at which time the estate was valued at £2000 per annum and was the last Baron created by King James I in August 1623. In 1642 Playters' son, Sir William Playters was Member of Parliament for Oxford and Vice Admiral of Suffolk. During the Civil War Sir Lionel Playters was 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, whereupon one said 'Pistoll the Parson' and two pistols were discharged at him.

In 1744 Sotterley manor was sold to Miles Barne, the son of a London merchant, who rebuilt Sotterley Hall following a fire. The parish was enclosed in 1796 leaving his son Miles Barne, with 1,085 acres (4.39 km²; 1.695 mi²), as the largest landholder. The Barne family still owns the house. Notable members of the Barne family to have lived at Sotterley include Frederick Barne, M.P. for the rotten borough of Dunwich at the time of the 1832 Reform Act, his son Frederick St John Newdigate Barne, M.P. for East Suffolk from 1876 to 1885 and his son Michael Barne, Royal Navy officer and the last surviving member of the 1901–04 Discovery Expedition to Antarctica.

Sotterley lies on an area of clay plateau in a wider area averaging between 20 and 25 metres above sea level. The underlying rock is crag-sand with overlying glacial till deposits and clay soils. The landscape is mainly arable with Sotterley Park and its associated woodland providing the main variation. The village is dispersed around a crossroads with a road pattern of unlit lanes which is largely unchanged from that seen on Hodgkinson's map of 1783.

The census of 1801 records Sotterley had a population of 254 inhabitants. The population remained reasonably steady throughout the 19th century and stood at 221 in 1901, at which time the village school had an average attendance of 80 children. From the 1920s onwards, the population began to decline more quickly and stood at 142 by the census of 1961. The 2011 census recorded the population of the parish as 113, a reduction of seven since the census of 2001.