Corton (Suffolk)

Corton is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is north of the centre of Lowestoft in the East Suffolk district. The village is on the North Sea coast with the county border with Norfolk to the north. It is a seaside holiday centre, with a number of facilities for visitors. Great Yarmouth is to the north. At the 2011 United Kingdom census the parish had a population of 1,099. It borders the Suffolk parishes of Lound, Blundeston and Flixton as well as the Lowestoft suburb of Gunton and, to the north, the Norfolk parish of Hopton-on-Sea. The A47 road runs along much of the western border of the parish and cuts through the south-western portion, along with the A1117. The roads meet at a junction near the Pleasurewood Hills theme park, located just south of the parish boundary in Gunton. The former Yarmouth–Lowestoft railway line ran through the village and Corton railway station operated between 1903 and 1970 when the line was closed. Corton is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Caretuna or Karetuna, a name probably derived from the Viking name Kari. It formed part of the Half Hundred of Lothingland, had a population of around 21 households and formed part of the King's holdings. This included the village of Newton which was lost to coastal erosion during the medieval period. The remaining narrow strip of land was attached to Corton in 1515. This land was transferred from Corton to Hopton, which was also in Suffolk at the time, as part of county reorganisation in 1974, at which point Hopton was renamed Hopton-on-Sea, as it then gained a coastline. During the 19th-century, the manor of Corton was owned by Samuel Morton Peto, a railway developer who owned the nearby Somerleyton Hall. Corton Windmill, a six-storey tower mill, was built in the 1830s and operated until the early 20th-century. It has since been converted to a private residence and is a Grade II listed building.