The name Eye is a derivation of the old English word for island. It is believed that the first settlement would have been surrounded by water from the from the two rivers that can be seen on the map and low lying marshland.
Earliest evidence of settlement dates from the Roman period. It should be noted that a treasure chest called the Hoxne Hord (Now in the British Museum) was discovered only 5km (As the Crow flys) indicating considerable wealth in the area during the Roman period.
Shortly after 1066 and the Norman conquest the Honour of Eye was given to William Mallet who built a castle and a Saturday market was established. It is thought that the market covered originally covered a large area as far down as the present Town Hall and included a cattle market which was held until 1867.
William Mallet’s son Robert founded a Benedictine Priory of St Peter the ruins of which can be found at Abbey Farm on the Hoxne Road.
Eye from Medieval times until 1974 was the smallest Borough in the UK with its own Mayor, corporation and local government. This comes as a surprise to most visitors, who view Eye more as a village due to its size. However, Eye has most of the facilitates that you would expect of a town without the size so makes an ideal place to live in or visit if you are looking for a quite and somewhat untouched location in the heart of East Anglia.
With a Barclays bank, Post Office, two Co-operative food shops, a pub, restaurants and tea rooms and antique shops all the basic needs of the tourist are meet. However, one has the feeling that in times past it was a more vibrant place with an iron foundry, flax works, lace making and a number of breweries and 20 pubs. Sadly it even had a medieval leper hospital in Magdalen Street after which it was named. Now the industry has moved out to the Eye Airfield on the A 140 and Eye like so many other places consists of shops and houses. The one glaring exception being the food factory in built on the grounds of the Old Railway Station which was closed to passengers in 1931.
During World War II from May 1944-August 1945 Eye Airfield was occupied by 490th USAAF Bomb Group. In July 1944 the group was used to support the British attack on Caen, and in September to support the attack on Brest.
Like most of East Anglia Eye has some great walks round and about as indicated on the maps by the green dotted lines. However, you should be warned that even in summer some of the areas can remain quite boggy so do not go out in your best shoes. In particular a short walk down to the Town Moor just off Magdalane Street starts you off on the tracks around the town that can be easily shortened by a short cut home via the road. The “Town Moor” as identified on the map has a plaque at the northerly entrance where it describes itself as “Eye town Moors Woodland 14 acres of public open space”. The map and information describes the work that has gone on in the past to create the space. However, at the time of writing, although most of the tracks are open and well used by dog walkers, the maintenance of the space has become a problem and nature has taken over.
Another good point to join the walks is down Cranley Road either at Moorhall Causeway, just opposite Number 41 Lowgate Street or at Park Lane which is identified by the parking space for the fishing ponds and “Big Head” a large sculpture which was part of the “Hearts of Oak Sculpture Trail”.
Alternatively the Hoxne Road leads to the Pennings, another open recreation space, and its car park leads to the byways and footpaths around Eye.
To find out more about Eye Click the “PDF Guide” Button and Get the Easy Print A4 Guide and Maps. Please note these files are large due to the high definition maps so may take a few minutes to download.
The Eye to Mellis railway ran from 1849 to closeure by Dr Beeching in 1964. to find out more about the history click the "Railway" button.
Just prior to the upheaval of the Eye to Mellis railway a map was published showing all the properties in Eye. Can you find your property and who owned it?
