Snape, Suffolk Snape, Suffolk Snape is a small village in the English county of Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh. It has about 600 inhabitants, measured at 611 at the 2011 Census. Snape is now best known for Snape Maltings, no longer in commercial use, but converted into a tourist centre together with a concert hall that hosts the major part of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. In Anglo-Saxon England, Snape was the site of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial. J. K. Rowling named the character of Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" books after the village. There has been human habitation
Snape Maltings Mstislav Rostropovich, and young stars in the making such as Elisabeth Söderström, Murray Perahia and Julian Bream. At first the Festival used local halls and churches but in 1967, Britten and Pears created a permanent home at Snape, 5 miles from Aldeburgh, by converting the Victorian maltings into an 832-seat venue. Within five years Britten and Pears had reclaimed more buildings on the site to establish a centre for talented young musicians. In 2006 Aldeburgh Music purchased a 999-year lease of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall, investing around £14 million in new studios and rehearsal spaces which came into use