 The constituency was created for the 1983 general election, primarily from the abolished county constituency of Eye, including the town of Stowmarket.It also included four wards from the north-western part of the Borough of Ipswich, transferred from the Borough Constituency thereof, and a small rural area to the west, equivalent to the former Rural District of Thedwastre, transferred from Bury St Edmunds.It was in turn replaced by the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency for the 1997 general election with a substantial area of the constituency, including Stowmarket, joining a reconfigured Bury St Edmunds constituency.