Elveden

Elveden is a village and civil parish in the Forest Heath district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 270.

The village is located on the A11 between Cambridge and Norwich and experiences a high volume of traffic. Since at least the 1980s, speculative plans for a bypass have been drawn up and repeatedly shelved. However, a bypass has finally been approved and construction began in early 2013 as part of the Barton Mills to Thetford improvement works. The bypass is currently due to be opened in winter 2014.

Elveden Hall is the centrepiece of the Elveden Estate, a vast country estate that is now the family seat of the Anglo-Irish Guinness family, Earls of Iveagh. Formerly, it was the family home of Maharaja Duleep Singh, who is buried in the churchyard of St Andrew and St Patrick Church; his grave is visited by the Sikh community who pay homage to the last ruler of the Sikh Empire. A Center Parcs holiday complex is located to the North of the village in nearby Elveden Forest.

The name Elveden seems to come from Old English *ælfa-dene 'elves' valley': the name appears, translated into Latin, as vallis nympharum 'valley of nymphs' in the mid-twelfth-century Miracula sancte Wihtburge. During the 17th and 18th Centuries, the village was often referred to as Elden and the village name is often incorrectly spelt today as 'Elvedon'.

Elveden and the nearby village of Weeting were used as the code-names for investigations into the News of the World phone hacking allegations during July 2011. Operation Elveden is the name of the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments having been made to the police in exchange for information.