Ellough


Ellough is a civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk, located approximately south-east of Beccles. The area is sparsely populated with a mid-2005 population estimate of 40. Neighbouring villages include North Cove, Weston, Sotterley and Henstead. The parish council operates to administer jointly the parishes of Shadingfield, Willingham St Mary, Sotterley and Ellough.
The village was the site of a Second World War airfield built in 1943 and operated today as Beccles Airport. Part of the former airfield is used as a kart racetrack and as an industrial estate, including the main production site of local printing firm William Clowes Ltd. The village itself is dispersed and has few services.

History

At the time of the Domesday survey, Ellough, known then as Elga, was a small settlement of 4 or 5 households. It formed part of the lands of Roger Bigot and was held by Robert of Vaux, having been confiscated from Ralph Guader, former Earl of Norfolk, following a failed rebellion. It is recorded as El'gh prior to 1400 and as Ellowe on a map of 1610.
The manor passed through a number of owners, including the Playters of Sotterley, before being owned by the Earl of Gosford in the 1840s. The church held some of the glebe land of St Mary's church in Willingham. The population of the parish was 155 in 1848, falling to 125 in 1871, at which time the parish was worth £1,687 and consisted of 1,097 acres of land. The population declined dramatically following the second world war and now stands at less than 50.

All Saints Church

is dedicated to All Saints and stands in an exposed position on a ridge overlooking the parish. It is medieval in origin, was heavily restored in the late 19th century, and is now a Grade I listed building. It stands to the south of the valley of the Hundred River which has its mouth at Kessingland.

RAF Beccles

Ellough Airfield was completed in 1943 and served as a RAF Bomber Command and RAF Coastal Command airfield during the Second World War as RAF Beccles. The airfield was decommissioned after the war and the land is now used as an industrial estate, a farmers market and for Ellough Park Raceway, a kart racing circuit. William Clowes Ltd. printers moved to the industrial park in 2004 and the park has the UK's largest solar roof installation sited on the roof of a Promens warehouse and with a generating capacity of 1.65MW. For a time a heliport operated to service oil and gas rigs in the North Sea.
A basic airstrip, known as Beccles Airport, remains at the site, used as a training base and private airfield.