borough (district), administrative and historic county of Suffolk, England, with its headquarters at Bury Saint Edmunds. Its area stretches across the whole breadth of the county from the Essex border (south) to that of Norfolk (north), a distance of 32 miles (52 km). The district is overwhelmingly agricultural, but in the northwest it includes a section of the distinctive heath and woodland area known as the Breckland. Area 254 square miles (657 square km). Pop. (2001) 98,179.