The market town of Eye, until 1970 the smallest borough in the country, is dominated by its Victorian flint and brick Town Hall, commissioned in 1857 by EB Lamb. The town is built around Eye Castle which is believed to date back to the 11th century. Eye, or 'Eay' is an old Saxon word meaning island and originates from the days when Eye was surrounded by water and could only be reached by boat.
The earliest mention of industry in Eye records that in 1673 many local women worked as lacemakers, with the last lacemaker in the town recorded to have died in 1914. Lace was not the only industry and the County Directories list many other trades and occupations, including blacksmiths, wheelwrights, coopers, clockmakers, tailors, milliners and printers. There also were several slaughterhouses, two breweries, and two retteries for the processing of flax. Iron and brass founders, agricultural implement makers, and church bell frame makers and hangers remained in operation into the 20th century. There was a weekly corn market and a fortnightly cattle market, as well as the normal market days.
Comparatively isolated from other centres of population, Eye was reached by a branch line of the Great Eastern Railway in the late 19th century which linked it with the rest of the rail network. Many of the bricks used for the construction of houses and ornate walls came from Banham's brickworks, since closed, in the nearby village of Hoxne >
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