Description : Walton is a settlement in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England, lying between the rivers Orwell and Deben. It is part of Felixstowe parish. There is archaeological evidence of Bronze Age field systems near Walton Hall. A Late Bronze Age hoard comprising a Type 4 barbed spearhead and a south-eastern type socketed axe was found in the first railway cutting to the west of the Lilds site in the 19th century (FEX 010). A Roman coin of Antoninus pius (AD 157–8)was discovered just to the west of the Lidls site (FEX 029). Later, a Roman fort, Walton Castle, enclosing about 6 acres (2.4 ha), similar to Burgh Castle, stood on high land near Brackenbury Fort and Bull's Cliff, now in Felixstowe. Probably built in the third or fourth centuries AD, it formed part of the coastal defences of the eastern shore of Britain, and overlooked the mouth of the River Deben. The walls and foundations subsided in cliff erosion during the 18th century, but large portions of the walls still lie under the sea. There is evidence of a Roman port around Walton castle and 'The Dip', as well as a Roman villa and precinct. The name Walton denotes a settlement and farmstead of Wealas, ("strangers") the Anglo-Saxon term for native Britons, or Celts who, over time, adopted the language and culture of the newcomers. During the early seventh century, when the Anglo-Saxon royal cemetery at Sutton Hoo was in use, Walton Castle was an important part of the royal environs which, by c. 660, had become settled at Rendlesham, on the north side of the River Deben. With Dunwich, Walton Castle is one of the two principal sites claimed in the Middle Ages for the location of Dommoc, the original bishop's seat of St Felix (Felix of Burgundy), first bishop of the East Angles, who arrived c. 630 AD in the reign of King Sigeberht of East Anglia. The see of Dommoc survived until the late ninth century. At the time of the Norman Conquest, the manor of Walton was linked with that of Falkenham, a village overlooking the River Deben a little further inland. The fort area was then known as Burch, a form of Burgh. In about 1170–80 Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, invited the monks of Rochester to found Walton Priory, dedicated to St Felix, in the precinct of the Roman fort.
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