[3] A medieval market town and site of a royal fortress, Haughley prospered till the Tudor period then went into decline further compounded by a fire started on 11 April 1709[7] at which it is said[7] “like a phoenix Stowmarket rose from its ashes”.

[8] The original 120 acres (49 ha) of Haughley Green, north of the main village, were enclosed in 1854, after being bisected by the railway from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds which opened in 1846.

[9][10] Through the Victorian period to the present day the village has grown and was connected to water and sewerage with the addition of local authority housing at the instigation of the infamous and controversial Rev Walter Grainge White in the 1920s following the description of Haughley and its open sewers by the Daily Mail in 1928 as “the fever pit of the kingdom”.

[citation needed] In 2022, to commemorate Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, a beacon was erected on the former Market Place and Village Green, attended by over one thousand people.

[11] The castle was built by Hugh de Montfort following the conquest of 1066 over the previous footprint of the fortified hall of the Saxon lord Guthmund,[12] killed at the Battle of Hastings.

In the Revolt of 1173–74 by Henry II's sons against their father, Robert de Beaumont, the Earl of Leicester, captured the castle for the rebels and demolished it in October 1173, following a short and fierce battle, by smoking the occupants out of the keep by piling brushwood against the building.

King Edward II spent some days at Haughley in January 1326 during a journey to Bury St Edmunds, South Elmham and Norwich.

[6] During the later 1300s it was occupied by Robert d'Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk (granted the Manor in 1337)[14] before falling into disuse in the 15th century when the De La Poles built Wingfield Castle.

[11][16][17] Three Cedar of Lebanon trees (planted by Richard Ray in the 18th century when he "inexplicably" cleared the site)[18] now sit atop the keep forming a landmark.

The church contains many memorials and hatchments to the Ray, Crawford, Smythe and Ward families as well as remains of medieval stained glass and a fine carved roof.

Now closed pubs include The Fox, The White Horse, The Railway Tavern, The Crown, The Globe, The Angel, The Mulberry Tree, The Hen, and The Cock as well as many other beer houses.

[citation needed] The village post office is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom in continuous use, opening in 1848, with Jasper Pritty its first postmaster.

[citation needed] Additionally the village has a veterinary surgeons, a Co-op store, hairdressers, second-hand furniture shop and an Indian restaurant.

[40] The bakery uses 200-year-old brick ovens to bake its bread in the medieval bake house, situated on the site of market place stalls[40] described within its deeds as being "two stalls beneath the market place of Hawley next the house of John Bloom the younger that has long since wasted"; this title predates the Norman conquest and can be traced to the time of the Saxon King Edgar.

The present building dates from 1650 with additions; it also houses the Cold War era civil defence nuclear air attack siren and power generators.

[41] The family are direct descendants of Henry II, Sir Clement Higham (Speaker of the House of Commons) and several Archbishops of York.

[citation needed] Palmer was a staunch Liberal, trade unionist, pro- abortionist, atheist, republican and follower of Thomas Paine and of the National Secular Society.

[43][44] In 1978 the bakery was the subject of an edition of the BBC children's television series You and Me, and featured Kenneth and his son, former lawyer Kieron Palmer.

[47][48] In the summer of 2019 to commemorate its 150th anniversary, a 'funday' and fireworks display was held, attended by 2,500 people, and a village museum based on the Palmer family archive was established.

[49] In October 2019, to commemorate the Armistice, Kieron Palmer erected 41 silhouettes of soldiers on the village green, representing the 41 Haughley men who fell in the two World Wars.

The title to the Lord of the Manor of Haughley was held for thirteen years to 1977 by Robin de La Lanne-Mirrlees,[61] said to be an influence on Ian Fleming's fictional character James Bond.