Aldeburgh

Small town and coastal resort in Suffolk, eastern England, 33 km/20 mi from Ipswich; population (2001) 2,800. It maintains a small fishing fleet, serving the local market. The Aldeburgh Festival, founded in 1948 by the English composer Benjamin Britten, is held annually at the Snape Maltings, 8 km/5 mi west of the town. It is the home of the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme.

Features An important and prosperous port in the 16th century, Aldeburgh retains some Tudor buildings, including the timber-framed Moot Hall, built in about 1520-40, which is now a museum. Once near the centre of the town, the hall presently stands only a short distance from the sea because the shoreline has gradually been eroded.

Alde House was home to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first English woman to qualify in medicine. She was elected mayor of Aldeburgh in 1908, becoming the first woman mayor in Britain.

The Church of St Peter and St Paul contains a statue of the poet George Crabbe who was born in Aldeburgh. His collection of tales about the life of the fishermen of Aldeburgh, The Borough (1810), was the inspiration for Peter Grimes, the opera by Benjamin Britten.