Origins and migrations of Sugg families in England

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Beginnings
What's in the name?
The Saxons

Early Evidence
Suffolk
Somerset & Dorset
Hampshire
London

After 1837
Suffolk & Hampshire
Western counties
London

People
Families
Emigration
Notable Suggs

Conclusion

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Beginnings - the Saxons

The Romans themselves were aware of the danger of possible invasion by the Saxons. They came from the coastal areas of north-west Germany and Denmark speaking various German dialects and worshipping the pagan god Woden. Forts were constructed at intervals along the south-east coast of England in preparation

for this eventuality and the remains of some of them still exist. Other archaeological discoveries, such as burial sites, suggest however that some Saxon groups had settled peacefully along the south coast as farmers while the Romans were still in control[i]. There is also evidence that some groups were used as mercenaries in the struggle against the Picts and Scots both before and after the departure of the Romans.

A Saxon image of a boar found in Derbyshire   

The withdrawal of the legions to Gaul in 410 however left the country with inadequate defences and open to attack and invasion. During the 5th century the Saxons began to arrive in significant numbers with permanent settlement in mind. Initially they moved into those parts of the country which were most easily accessible to them – the coastal areas of the south and east – and met with little opposition. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle[ii], written in the ninth century records that in 495 Saxons under the leadership of Cerdic sailed in force into Southampton Water. Settlement, assimilation and control of the immediate area soon followed, together with efforts to expand into adjoining regions.

According to the Welsh Annales Cambriae[iii] a battle took place at Mount Badon (probably Badbury Hill in Dorset) in about 516 at which the Saxons were soundly defeated by the Britons. It is probable that they were attempting to extend their territory westwards into what is now Dorset. As a result of this defeat the south western part of the country probably remained independent of Saxon control and basically Christian for a further century and a half[iv]. King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have been credited with this victory but evidence for this is limited.

Little is known about developments of the next 250 years but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the defeat of the Britons by the Saxon king of Wessex in 658 and the Annales Cambiae records a second battle at Mount Badon, fought in about 665, at which the Saxons were the decisive victors. By the second half of the 7th century modern day Dorset and Somerset had become part of the kingdom of Wessex. The existence of laws written at the end of the 7th century dealing with religious and domestic matters which applied to both Saxons and Britons in the region, suggests that coexistence, probably peaceful, was by then the norm. Prescribed penalties for Britons however were more severe than those for Saxons – things were not yet quite equal! Evidence from burial sites enables approximate dates of settlement to be estimated and confirms that significant Saxon settlement had taken place here much later than in areas further east.

London had been a very important centre during Roman times but seems subsequently to have fallen into decline. There appears to be no direct evidence indicating how or when London was occupied by the Saxons but by the end of the 6th century it had again become an important city under their control. Bede [v]

described London in the early 8th century as a ‘market frequented by many who came by land and sea’. Evidence has been discovered which indicates the existence of a large and densely built-up settlement of craftsmen and traders known as Lundewic. It was a major port just upstream from the old Roman city, to the north of what is now the Strand.
Saxon coins with the head of Aethelred II - 978-1016

During this same period the Angles, coming from central Denmark and neighbouring islands, were taking control along the eastern coastline. They settled in Suffolk, in what was to become the southern part of the kingdom of East Anglia. The Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes (who settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight) had much in common, including language. There were many similar groups referred to under these general headings and the term Anglo-Saxon is commonly used to refer to them all.

There is considerable archaeological evidence for their presence in Suffolk. Excavations at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge, revealed a royal burial site including an entire longboat filled with Anglo-Saxon artefacts from the 7th century. A number of cemeteries for ‘ordinary’ people have also been discovered in the region and it is thought that an Anglo-Saxon village occupied a site at West Stow from 450 to 650.

By the 8th and 9th centuries much of the country was under Anglo-Saxon control – although it was by no means unified. A number of powerful kings were competing with each other for overall control. Settlement had taken place in each of the areas in which Sugg families have been found. The name Sugg was probably already in use.

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[i] There is evidence of early Saxon settlement at Lulworth in Dorset

[ii] It was originally compiled for Alfred the Great about 890, and subsequently maintained and added to by a series of unknown writers until the 12th Century

[iii] Written in about 970 it chronicles a period of 533 years starting from AD447. It deals mainly with fairly obscure Welsh matters, but also contains references to events elsewhere

[iv] Cullingford – Christian inscriptions at Wareham featuring Welsh names and Latin text ascribed to the 7th and 8th centuries support this

[v] Known as the Venerable Bede – a monk living in Jarrow (673-735) who wrote an Ecclesiastical History of the English People recording events in Britain from the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55 BC to that of St Augustine in 597 AD