The Sign
The sign was erected to celebrate the new millennium and located at the crossroads of the B1122 & B1353, Aldeburgh and Thorpeness roads from Leiston. According to a plaque on the post of the sign the features are as follows:
· Top - Founder of the village church, Sir Ranulph De Glanville
· Middle left - Tumbril drawn by a Suffolk Punch horse
· Middle right - Aldringham St Andew’s church
· Bottom - A kingfisher overlooking the River Hundred and Aldringham Fens.

The Name and Population
Aldringham was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Alrincham, Alringeham 1199 and Aldringham in 1275. It was probably the "homestead of Aldere or Jarl" from Old English. The parish of Aldringham cum Thorpe includes Thorpeness, which could have been founded in the C16th, since the dissolution of the Snape Monastery. The population of the parish in 2011 was 759.

Other Points of Interest
The Parrot and Punchbowl public house on the crossroads opposite the village sign, was associated with smuggling up into the late 18th century.

Aldringham cum Thorpe St Andrew church is situated well away from the village to the east, just off the B1358, hidden away in the heathland, down a dirt track. The church is C13th at the core with much later C15th work. It was in ruins by the early C19th and restored in 1843. The tower remains were cleared and the west end rebuilt with a belfry. The inside is predominantly Victorian. There still exists a C15th font and C13th piscina.

Sir Ranulph De Glanville was a warrior fighting for Henry II against the Scots and the Welsh and subsequently went on a crusade with Richard I and died at Acre in 1190. He was the founder of two monasteries in Suffolk at Butley Priory and Leiston Abbey.

A tumbril was an open cart that tilted backwards to empty its load and may have been used to convey condemned prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution and as a covered cart which carried tools or ammunition for an army.