The earliest evidence of habitation in and around Baylham dates back to the Neolithic Age, with a 2007-8 excavation in the parish finding a prehistoric pit from between 9,000 and 4,000BC featuring flint fragments and ditches, suggesting the presence of a barrow cemetery and possible field system.

[2] The remains of two separate Roman fortifications and a possible small settlement, thought to have existed from the late Iron Age and Claudian eras to the mid 4th century, have been discovered at the end of Mill Lane, east of the Gipping river crossing.

While no visible foundations remain, there have been numerous finds throughout the area including a deliberately broken statuette of Nero and a saddle-cloth weight, indicating a sizeable military presence.

Combretovium's role as a crossing point at the River Gipping along the Pye Road from London to Caistor St Edmund made it a useful military staging ground, particularly during the Roman defeat of the Iceni.

[7] The earliest recorded settlement in the post-Roman era has existed at Baylham since at least 1085 and it is listed in the Domesday book as Beleham (meaning "Fair/Gentle Enclosure" in Old English), in the Hundred of Bosmere, formerly under the control of three overlords prior to the 1066 Norman Conquest.

[13] During the black death Baylham is thought to have fared poorly and, despite being part of a broadly prosperous and growing region following the Conquest, just 20 taxpayers were registered in the 1327, a number that would hold steady until the late 16th century.

The Andrew family, primarily of burgess stock, went on to establish themselves as lower gentry with interests especially in Ipswich, Bramford and Sproughton, with James becoming well-known as an executor and trustee, eventually working directly for the Earl of Suffolk in the 1400s and in Henry V's first Parliament in 1413.

The day before the court case was due to begin however he was attacked and killed, forcing his wife and child to seek protection directly from Earl Suffolk.

The killing and its aftermath saw intense tensions arise between the Earl and the Duke of Norfolk, with the threat of large-scale violence being so concerning that the King's Council was forced to directly intervene.

Baylham House Farm (see below) hosted a significant figure in Suffolk's broader puritan fervour in the form of "Smasher" William Dowsing, who was resident in the building throughout the war from at least 1642 to 1661 – though the religious enforcer had closer ties with nearby Coddenham, possibly due to his dislike of then-minister John Bird.

[20]Baylham saw something of a boon for its agricultural industry in the late 18th century when the canalisation of the Gipping from Stowmarket to Ipswich, led by famed engineer John Rennie, took place in the 1790s, allowing for easier transport to and from its millhouse, as well as the later construction of a water mill.

[7] Baylham remained a strongly agriculture-centred village into the 20th century, with the principal holding from 1891-1912 belonging to James Saumarez, a wealthy lord with lands throughout Suffolk.

Ernest Onians, a pigswill salesman who had lived at the mill for many years and was an avid art collector, had acquired the piece while visiting house sales in the 1940s and '50s.

When he died in 1995 the painting was included in a general sale of goods by auction house Sotheby's, and mistakenly sold at a guide price of £15,000 under the name of Poussain's pupil, Pietro Testa.

Bidding soared to £155,000 and it was eventually acquired by London gallery Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox – which went on to resell the piece for £4.5 million to the Rothschild foundation.

[24] Many of the village's other former economic staples, including the quarry, a blacksmith and shoemaker in the 19th century, along with its post office and local shop, have been closed and/or converted to residential use.

As of 2008, the Mid Suffolk Core Strategy defined Baylham as a Countryside Village, noting its lack of local services and high prevalence (66%) of oil-fired central heating.

[25] Following the Roman withdrawal the region in which Baylham sits was governed through the hundreds system, specifically Bosmere (named after a lake a mile south-east of Needham Market).

At a local level the village has an active parish council The Ipswich to Stowmarket 88 bus route stops at the bottom of the hill, and passes through Needham Market, where the closest railway station can be found.

Baylham is situated within a Special Landscape Area[29] and is most famous for its old millhouse, built in the early 16th century with a pre-Reformation core, which has been represented in pictures by Graham Bell and David Gentleman and is now a private abode.

While it technically sits within the historic boundaries of Coddenham parish, construction of the Great Eastern Main Line and A14 to its east and north has effectively made it part of Baylham.

The chalk pit is currently partially unused, or being used for landfill, and has been subject to several controversial development applications including for winter sports facility SnOasis, which fell afoul of a protection order related to great crested newts in the 2000s,[32] and its successor project Valley Ridge[33] On the edge of the parish boundary, to the west of Ditch Wood in the neighbouring parish of Barking, is Tarston Hall, a Grade II listed building featuring a medieval double moat.