Aldeburgh People

Today, Aldeburgh has a reputation as a centre for the arts with many artists, writers and musicians associated with it. This has not always been the case. Life for people living in Aldeburgh 500 years ago was reliant on the sea, helped by a natural harbour that had formed at Slaughden. The fishing and ship-building industries were thriving by the mid-16th Century and the population had rapidly expanded.

But Aldeburgh soon saw a change in its fortunes when silt built up making the harbour too shallow to use. Disease, bad storms and high taxes made life difficult for people here during the 17th Century. Records show that in 1603, the population was over 1,300 but by 1670 had dwindled to 670 people.

It was only in the late 18th and early 19th century that Aldeburgh began to expand again as it gradually developed a new identity as a seaside resort. Accelerated by the arrival of the railway in 1864, tourism had fully opened up the town to the outside world, bringing in new people and new ideas. The 1881 census tells us more about the people living in the town at that time and reflects the change in occupations. A population of around 2100 included people including 80 mariners, 65 fishermen but also 60 domestic servants, 35 maids, 20 laundresses, a butler, photographer and the German manager of a ‘coffee room’.