Racking my brain (back in summer 2015) for someone or somewhere or something which might typify Suffolk, I hit a wall. A very particular sort of wall. Not dead straight like your normal garden wall, but weird and wobbly and wonderfully named. It's called a crinkle-crankle wall and, counterintuitively, uses less bricks than its linear companion.

According to Wikipedia, "the county of Suffolk claims at least 50 examples", easily beating everywhere else. Should be straightforward to find a list, don't you think? Not so. Pevsner's "Buildings Of Suffolk" has a throwaway reference to:

...undulating forcing walls of brick, which Mr Norman Scarfe has collected and published

He goes on to mention half a dozen examples but, frustratingly, there's no explicit reference to any publication by Scarfe. Other Googling also points to this mythical list having been extended by one G.A. Coulson. Again, sadly, with no periodical or article.

So I dug out all the passing nods in Pevsner, around ten or so, then handed that list to Eldest, busy doing nothing in late August. She then got to work on that there internet and doubled the list. Key to this enterprise was to actually see each of these fabled creatures in the flesh, if possible. Thus was born the Crinkle-Crankle Crew, comprising me, Eldest and friend, Middler, and my mum. Membership comes and goes, TBH.

According to my last search of the Historic England website for mentions of "crinkle" or "serpentine" wall, I currently believe that there are 31 crinkle-crankle walls in Suffolk that are listed to at least Grade II standard. They're all marked on the below list. Actually, make that 32 since the example at Great Waldingfield was listed -- see this EADT article -- in October 2020.

Must mention the tremendous help received from Edward Martin (EM) of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History. He's been on a near identical path to myself, it so happens, trying and failing to track down that wretched list. When we finally compared notes, he had around 46 examples, twice my total! His understanding, by the way, was that Ye Olde Liste had around 92 entries. Gulp. I've now done my best to merge our disparate lists and add ones of which we were previously unaware. Thanks, Edward.

Also a big tip of the hat to Dr James Bettley for leading the way with his authoritative Buildings of England volumes covering Suffolk East and West.

Here's a handy map of crinkle-crankle walls in Suffolk.

Updates to follow as and when.