The village lies very close to the county borders of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire in the extreme south east of Lincolnshire.

Sutton Bridge and the surrounding area has recently seen an influx of new residents, mostly from the southern part of the United Kingdom.

In 2024, a 57.3-mile stretch of the King Charles III England Coast Path opened from Sutton Bridge to Skegness.

Stretching to the east and north was a vast, fast flowing expanse of marshes known as Cross Keys Wash, through which the River Nene (earlier, the Wellstream) wound its way to the sea.

The track across the marshes between Lincolnshire and Norfolk was passable at low water and needed a guide for a safe passage.

Since reclamation began in the 16th century of the estuary between Long Sutton and Sutton Bridge, The Wash House (now the Bridge Hotel) marked the start of the safe track and it was possible to hire guides to help the general travellers and also the drovers with their herds of cattle, flocks of sheep or geese safely over the marsh.

It was recorded by contemporary chroniclers that on 12 October 1216 King John's crown jewels and other valuable crown possessions were lost in marshland when the horse-drawn baggage train of his army, in passing from Bishop's Lynn (now King's Lynn) en route to Sleaford, attempted to cross the causeway and ford across the mouth of the Wellstream without a guide.

[3] John, on departing from Bishop's Lynn, had apparently chosen the safer route via Wisbech in the Isle of Ely.

During the early part of the 20th century, several privately sponsored archaeological attempts were made to discover the exact location of King John's long-lost treasure, on 10 miles (16 km) of reclaimed land between Sutton Bridge and Wisbech.

[4] Modern scientific equipment, such as the magnetic variometer method were implemented, from the headquarters of Fen Research Ltd., located at Dovecote Farm in Walpole St. Peter, which had been purposely formed to search for King John's treasure.

The first sod was cut on 1 January 1878 and 100 men, 50 horses and carts, 1 steam dredger and several barges were involved in the work.

The work was completed and the first ship to enter the dock (SS Garland) did so on 14 May 1881, carrying 1200 tons of cargo destined for Messrs English of Wisbech.

At the same time, a strip of earth at the back of the lock on the north side sank, carrying with it, two steam traction engines which had been used for pumping.

On the following Tuesday 500 feet (150 m) of concrete facing on the opposite, west side of the dock itself were dislodged because the footings had been scoured away.

The great weight of concrete laid on shifting silt, together with inadequate timber piling would appear to have led to the collapse.

The first bridge, opened in 1831, was designed by John Rennie the Younger and Thomas Telford as part of the Wash Embankment works.

[9] In 1861, however, it was officially reported that 'they have never been used, nor are they considered at all necessary, as the system of lighting adopted in this port is found to answer all purposes required'.

[citation needed] The East Bank Lighthouse is known as the Sir Peter Scott Lighthouse: before the Second World War it was inhabited by the naturalist and artist Sir Peter Scott[11] who bought a large area of the Ouse Washes and established a nature reserve of what is now the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

The village and community of Sutton Bridge played a supportive role of national importance during the Second World War; it was home to a Royal Air Force (RAF) airfield and prisoner-of-war camp.

[12][14] Along with RAF Sutton Bridge came also a stream of local crash landing incidents and mid-air collisions, many resulting in pilot fatalities.

[12][23] Today, small remnants of RAF Sutton Bridge airfield exist, in 1958 RAF Sutton Bridge was closed, its land site transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and continues to be used by the Potato Marketing Board as one of the UK's leading agricultural experiment stations.

[15] The Camp was located on the West Bank, next to what once was Travis & Arnold timber yard and offices, just off the road (left side) leading towards the old dock.

Whilst in captivity the Sutton Bridge POWs were used by the Ministry of Agriculture and hired out to civilian contractors to perform local land labour work.

[29][30][31] Living conditions and facilities at the camp were sparse at best, with no electric lighting nor heating stoves until well after the War had ended.

[29][30][31] On 28 August 1948, an official inspection visit by the International Committee of the Red Cross reported prisoner conditions at Sutton Bridge POW Camp had improved significantly since their previous visit; 160 German Wehrmacht POWs were at that time interned in the camp quasi-hostel, electric lighting and coal heating stoves had found their way into the POW accommodation, each dormitory contained between 8 and 14 single beds, lockable lockers had just been delivered and doors had been fitted to toilet cubicles.