Alton Water is a manmade reservoir. It is the largest in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, with a circumference

Circumference

The circumference is the distance around a closed curve. Circumference is a special perimeter.-Circumference of a circle:The circumference of a circle is the length around it....

 of over 8 miles (13 km).
Due to a shortage of water in the Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

 area in the 1960s, a list of 20 potential sites for reservoirs was made, with Alton being the chosen site. The land was mainly farmland, but was also home to a mill

Mill (grinding)

A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...

 and Alton Hall. The mill was dismantled and reconstructed at the Museum of East Anglian Life

Museum of East Anglian Life

The Museum of East Anglian Life is a Museum located in Stowmarket Suffolk, it specialises in presenting the agricultural history of East Anglia through a mixture of exhibits and living history demonstrations. It has recently taken to abbreviating itself as 'MEAL'.-History of the Museum:The site of...

 in Stowmarket

Stowmarket

-See also:* Stowmarket Town F.C.* Stowmarket High School-External links:* * * * *...

.

Construction and the filling with water took 13 years to complete.