Suffolk Day in England Date in the current year: June 21, 2024

Suffolk is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in Eastern England. It is bordered by Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Essex. The county town of Suffolk is Ipswich; other major towns include Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe, Lowestoft, and Newmarket.

The name of the county derives from an Old English phrase which means “southern folk”. It was formed from the southern part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia. Edmund the Martyr, an East Anglian king, is the patron saint of Suffolk. Suffolk and Norfolk were mentioned as distinct counties in Domesday Book — a record of the “Great Survey” completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror — but they were under a single sheriff until 1575.

When the Local Government Act 1888 came into effect on April 1, 1889, Suffolk was split in two administrative counties, East Suffolk with the government headquarters in Ipswich and West Suffolk with the government headquarters in Bury St Edmunds. The division lasted until the enactment of the Local Government Act 1972 on April 1, 1974, which resulted in the merger of West Suffolk and East Suffolk. Ever since then, Suffolk has been a unified county.

Suffolk is particularly famous for being the center of British horse racing and hosting the annual Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts, which is considered one of the major classical musical festivals in the country. Other notable music festivals that take place in Suffolk include the Latitude Festival, FolkEast, and the LeeStock Music Festival.

Notable people from Suffolk include John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough, who are regarded among the most important English painters, composer and conductor Benjamin Britten, sculptor and printmaker Elisabeth Frink, cartoonist Carl Giles, poets George Crabb and Robert Bloomfield, author and editor Ronald Blythe, actors Bob Hoskins and Ralph Fiennes, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, musician, composer and record producer Brian Eno, theatre, opera and film director Peter Hall, professional jockeys Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori, and many others.

Suffolk Day was conceived in 2016 by Mark Murphy, the Breakfast Show host at BBC Radio Suffolk. He was inspired by Yorkshire Day, which has been celebrated every August 1 since 1975, to recognize the history, culture, art, landscapes, attractions, institutions, and great icons of Suffolk. The date of Suffolk Day, June 21, is not directly related to the county’s history; it was chosen simply because it is the longest day of the year.

Suffolk Day stakeholders include BBC Radio Suffolk, Suffolk County Council, the University of Suffolk, Suffolk Community Foundation, Ipswich City Council, and other local organizations, institutions, and businesses. The holiday is marked by various events hosted across the county: treasure hunts, guided tours, concerts, competitions, food tastings, school projects, charity events, and more.