The Sign
Haughley sign depicts a motte and bailey castle built in late 11th century by Hugh de Montfort. The castle was seized by The Crown in 1163. Captured after a short siege and destroyed in 1173 by rebels led by the Earl of Leicester, the keeper at the time being Ralph de Broc; it was replaced by a royal manor and park. The arch around the sign looks like a Norman doorway, and could be a general reference to the fact that the boom days for Haughley were in the 12th century.

The Name and Population
The population was 1,638 at the 2011 census. It was called Hagele, 1035-44 and Hagala in 1086. The name means "The wood or woodland clearing with a hedge or where hawthorns grow", from Old English.

Other Points of Interest
The church is dedicated to the Assumption and has one of thirty odd south towers.

Diarmaid MacCulloch (born 31 October 1951) - Professor of the history of the church at Oxford University, Knight Bachelor (knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to scholarship), broadcaster, LGBT campaigner and author; son of Rev Nigel MacCulloch, vicar of Haughley and Wetherden, he attended Hillcroft Preparatory School and Stowmarket Grammar School.