Titles, contents, list of illustrations & list of subscribers to front, signed & dated by the author to fep. Based entirely on original records, this book relates the story of a thriving community of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries The people of the Blyth Valley built their hopes around a revived coastal port and a newly created commercial waterway. Through the individual stories of landowners, merchants and professional men, the book examines the effects of the economic and social changes on the communities of Southwold, Halesworth and the surrounding area. As she tells the story of the river valley, Rachel Lawrence reveals much about the lives of its inhabitants and the qualities of character which shaped the course of their history - their achievements and failures and the significance of each event in the community at large. Her narrative guides the reader through a period rich in detail, drawing together the various strands into an absorbing history of this charming corner of Suffolk.