Benacre is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the East Suffolk district of the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. The village is located about south of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

and north-east of Wrentham, between the main

A12 road This is a list of roads designated A12. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by country. * A012 road (Argentina), a road around the city of Rosario * A12 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Kufstein and the German Autobahn A 93 to Lande ...

and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

coast. Neighbouring villages include

Kessingland Kessingland is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around south of Lowestoft on the east coast of the United Kingdom. It is of interest to archaeologis ...

and

Covehithe Covehithe is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It lies on the North Sea coast around north of Southwold and south of Lowestoft. Neighbouring settlements include B ...

with the town of

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the North Sea, in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth, Suffolk, River Blyth in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths ...

to the south. The village is dispersed around

Benacre Hall Benacre Hall is a Grade II listed country house and estate in Benacre, Suffolk. The current house is high Georgian, with Palladian geometric influence and figures externally roughly as it stood on its building, in 1764. It is the seat of the G ...

, the estate of the Gooch family. It had a population of around 70 in mid-2008.''A profile of Waveney'', Waveney District Council, February 2011. Retrieved 2011-04-18. The population declined dramatically during the 20th century from 216 at the 1901 census.Benacre CP: Historical statistics – population
Vision of Britain. Retrieved 2011-05-07. The area of the parish extends from the Hundred River in the north to

Benacre Broad Benacre Broad is an isolated coastal lagoon on the North Sea coast of the English county of Suffolk. It is located in the parish of Benacre around north of the village of Covehithe. It is about east of Wrentham, north of Southwold and south ...

in the south. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 the village's name is given as ''Benagra'' within the Hundred of Blythling.Benacre
The Domesday Book online. Retrieved 2011-05-07. It formed part of the holdings of the

Abbey of Bury St Edmunds The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England, until its dissolution in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suffolk, England. It was a centre of pilgrima ...

, as it had before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, with one freeman recorded as living in the manor.Benacre
, Domesday Map. Retrieved 2011-05-07. The village has few basic services. The former parish church of St Michael is now privately owned by the Gooch family.Church of St Michael, Benacre
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2011-05-07. It is medieval in origin and a Grade II* listed building, although extensively rebuilt following a fire in the 18th century. The

church of St Andrew St. Andrew's Church, Church of St Andrew, or variants thereof, may refer to: Albania * St. Andrew's Church, Himarë Australia Australian Capital Territory * St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Canberra, founded by John Walker (Presbyterian minis ...

in Covehithe now acts as the parish church for Benacre.Covehithe with Benacre, St Andrew, Covehithe with Benacre
Church of England. Retrieved 2011-05-10. Benacre Broad forms part of the Benacre National Nature Reserve, an important reserve for over 100 bird species including the

marsh harrier The marsh harriers are bird of prey, birds of prey of the harrier (bird), harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized Bird of prey, raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. ...

little tern The little tern (''Sternula albifrons'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name ''Sterna albifrons''. It was moved to the genus '' Sternula'' whe ...

and

bittern Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' and various iterations of ''rared ...

.Benacre NNR
''Natural England''. Retrieved 2012-11-01. The shingle beach also forms an important habitat and the coastal area of the parish is part of the Pakefield to Easton Barents

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

References

External links

Benacre Estate
Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Waveney District {{Suffolk-geo-stub