In the Pink – busting the myth of the ‘Suffolk Pink’ phenomena

‘It was the commercial marketing of ‘Suffolk Pink’ in the early 20th century that has led to the now widely held view that pink is an old tradition’

Suffolk County Council website

A pink painted timber framed cottage is the quintessential image of a bucolic Suffolk dwelling. Farmhouses and cottages in a wide gamut of differing shades of pink can be found all over the county.

The internet is brimming with blogs about the history of the ancient tradition of Suffolk pink dating back to the 14th century. Wikipedia states that pink was developed by local dyers by adding natural substances to a traditional limewash mix.
The blogs assert that the pink is the result of limewash being mixed with pigs’ blood. (Pigs are everywhere in Suffolk.)

One theory is that pigs’ blood thickened the limewash, adding extra protection. This theory is almost certainly apocryphal. Ox blood, damsons and sloes are also cited as being used to create coloured limewash paints.

But it may come as a surprise, dear reader, that the origins of ‘Suffolk pink’ are far from certain. ‘Its origins have always been a matter of conjecture in our family,’ Angela Brown of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology & History, is quoted as saying in a recent article published by Inigo.

It is not just in the Brown family that the derivation of ‘Suffolk Pink’ is unknown. It seems that there is no definitive answer.

There is no mention of pink in Norman Scarfe’s Shell Guide to Suffolk published in 1960. Nor does Nikolaus Pevsner mention pink in his first Suffolk volume of 1961; but he does in the later 1974 edition.

Timothy Easton, a Suffolk based architectural historian, believes that pink was a 19th century innovation. Pinks were ‘still fairly pale’ in the 1960s.’

‘If there is such a thing as a traditional external Suffolk colour it is lime white, which is a soft translucent off-white,’ states an excellent publication, Conservation Colours and Finishes for Historic Buildings, produced by West Suffolk Council. It goes on to say that green was the favoured colour in rural Suffolk for window frames, doors and other external joinery. Black and dark brown were also commonplace in more urban settings with blues and maroons added later.

The above is taken from an article by Amicia de Moubray which first appeared in Autumn 2024 Suffolk View magazine. Amicia is a journalist and editor specialising in architecture, heritage and interiors. She grew up in Suffolk and is the co-author with David Black of Carpets for the Home and author of Twentieth Century Castles in Britain. The full article can be read here.