Sudbury, Suffolk
Sudbury (/ˈsʌdbəri/, locally /ˈsʌbəri/) is a market town in the south west of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour near the Essex border, 60 miles (97 km) north-east of London. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 13,063. It is the largest town in the Babergh local government district and part of the South Suffolk constituency.
This article is about the town. For other uses, see Sudbury.
Sudbury was an Anglo-Saxon settlement from the end of the 8th century, and its market was established in the early 11th century. Its textile industries prospered in the Late Middle Ages, the wealth of which funded many of its buildings and churches. The town became notable for its art in the 18th century, being the birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough, whose landscapes offered inspiration to John Constable, another Suffolk painter of the surrounding Stour Valley area. The 19th century saw the arrival of the railway with the opening of a station on the historic Stour Valley Railway, and Sudbury railway station forms the current terminus of the Gainsborough Line. In World War II, US Army Air Forces bombers operated from RAF Sudbury.
Today, Sudbury retains its status as a market town with a twice-weekly market in the town centre in front of St Peter's Church, which is now a cultural venue for events such as concerts and exhibitions. In sport, the town has a semi-professional football club, A.F.C. Sudbury, which competes at the seventh level of the football pyramid.
It is home to the Gainsborough's House museum, celebrating the work of the artist.
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$_$_$DEEZ_NUTS#0__call_to_action.textDEEZ_NUTS$_$_$History[edit]
Early history[edit]
Sudbury's history dates back into the age of the Saxons.[4] The town's earliest mention is in circa 799, when Ælfhun, Bishop of Dunwich, died in the town.[5] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the town as Suðberie ("south-borough"), presumed to distinguish it from Norwich or Bury St Edmunds, to the north,[4] and c. 995 is recorded as Suðbyrig.[6] The town is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, as a market town where the local people came to barter their goods.[5] The market was established in 1009.[7] During this period the town was surrounded by a defensive ditch and a diverted section of the River Stour.[6]
The Church of All Saints was established in the 12th century before being bought by Adam the Monk, who then passed the church and its lands to the Abbey of St Albans.[6][8] St Bartholemew's Benedictine Priory and the Chapel of Holy Sepulchre were also established in the 12th century.[6]
A community of Dominicans established Sudbury Priory in the mid-13th century and gradually extended the size of their priory, which was one of three Dominican priories in the county of Suffolk.[9] A leper hospital was founded on the outskirts of the town in 1272.[6]
Sudbury was one of the first towns in which Edward III settled the Flemings,[4] allowing the weaving and silk industries to prosper for centuries during the Late Middle Ages. As the main town in the area, Sudbury prospered too, and many great houses and churches were built, giving the town a major historical legacy. The Woolsack in the House of Lords was originally stuffed with wool from the Sudbury area, a sign of both the importance of the wool industry and of the wealth of the donors.
One citizen of Sudbury, Archbishop Simon Sudbury showed that not even the Tower of London guarantees safety. On 14 June 1381 guards opened the Tower's doors and allowed a party of rebellious peasants to enter. Sudbury, inventor of the poll tax, was dragged to Tower Hill and beheaded.[10] His body was afterwards buried in Canterbury Cathedral, but his skull is kept in St Gregory's Church,[11] one of the three medieval churches in Sudbury. Simon's concerns for his native town are reflected in the founding of St Leonard's Hospital in 1372, a place of respite, towards Long Melford, for lepers.[12] For the College of St Gregory, which he founded in 1375 to support eight priests, he used his father's former house and an adjoining plot.[13]
From the 16th to 18th century the weaving industry was less consistently profitable and Sudbury experienced periods of varying prosperity.[14] By means of the borough court, the mayor and corporation directed the affairs of the town. They built a house of correction (1624) for 'rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars' and tried to finance the reconstruction of Ballingdon Bridge, which disappeared during a storm on 4 September 1594. Among theatrical companies that they paid to visit Sudbury were Lord Strange's Men (1592) and the King's Men (1610). Minor infringements, such as not attending church, were punished by fines; for worse offenders there was a stocks or a whipping. During the Civil War a 12-strong band of watchmen was created to prevent the town's enemies, presumed to be Royalists, burning it down.[15]
Sudbury and the surrounding area, like much of East Anglia, was a hotbed of Puritan sentiment during much of the 17th century. Sudbury was among the towns called "notorious wasps' nests of dissent."[16] During the 1630s, many families departed for the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the wave of emigration that occurred during the Great Migration.
In 1705 the River Stour Navigation Act was passed in Parliament, and work was undertaken to make the river navigable all the way from Manningtree.[6][17]
By the 18th century the fees charged to become a freeman, with voting rights, were exorbitant and the borough of Sudbury, along with 177 other English towns, was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.
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Schools[edit]
The town's only secondary school is Ormiston Sudbury Academy. The school was formed, as Sudbury Upper School, in 1972 from an amalgamation of Sudbury Grammar School, the High School for Girls and the Secondary Modern School, following the introduction of comprehensive education. There are several primary schools, including Tudor CEVC Primary School, St. Gregory CEVCP, St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School and Woodhall Primary School. Salters Hall School which was partly housed in the town's fifteenth century building of the same name, was closed in 1995.
Media[edit]
Sudbury is served by a daily newspaper, the East Anglian Daily Times, owned by the Archant group. There are also two weekly newspapers, both published on a Thursday. The Sudbury Mercury, again owned by Archant, is delivered free to households, and the Suffolk Free Press, owned by Iliffe Media, is sold in shops around south Suffolk and north Essex.
Sports[edit]
The town's main football club, A.F.C. Sudbury, was formed on 1 June 1999 by the amalgamation of two existing clubs, Sudbury Town (founded 1885) and Sudbury Wanderers (founded 1958).[30] Three times FA Vase finalists,[31] they are currently members of the Isthmian League Premier Division.[32]
The local rugby club, Sudbury R.F.C. have previously played as high as National 3 in English rugby, but are currently in the London 2 North East. The club's ground is in neighbouring village, Great Cornard. The town's oldest sports club is Sudbury Cricket Club, founded in 1787, who currently play in the East Anglian Premier League.[33]
The Kingfisher Leisure Centre, next to the railway station, has a 25 m swimming pool, sauna, fitness centre and a soft play area for children. It is home to Sudbury Storms Swimming Club.
Sudbury Rowing Club, formerly Sudbury Boat Club, was founded in 1874 and has held a regatta in the town every year since, except during the world wars. It has a boathouse and clubhouse in Quay Lane and rows on a 1500 m stretch of the Stour by Friars Meadow.[34]
Other sporting groups include a canoeing club, a hapkido club, a running club and a boxing club.
Transport[edit]
By road, Sudbury is served by the A131 which runs from near Little Waltham, north of Chelmsford in Essex, and the A134 which runs from Colchester in Essex, through Bury St Edmunds, past Thetford in Norfolk to its west, before merging with the A10 south of King's Lynn. There is a taxi rank for Hackney carriages at Old Market Place. The bus station on Hamilton Road in the town centre provides services to neighbouring places, operated by Hedingham & Chambers and other operators.
The railway arrived in Sudbury in 1847 when Sudbury railway station was built on the Stour Valley Railway. The town escaped the Beeching Axe of the 1960s and maintained its rail link with London, although many villages further up the river lost their railway stations. Sudbury railway station now forms the terminus of the branch line which is marketed as the Gainsborough Line, with stops at Bures and Chappel and Wakes Colne railway stations, terminating at Marks Tey railway station. This junction on the Great Eastern Main Line provides connections to London, where trains terminate at Liverpool Street station.
The town was formerly a port; from 1705, horse-drawn lighters transported grain to the numerous water-mills, locally made bricks, coal and even coconuts used for mat-making in Sudbury and Long Melford. Cargos, such as hay and straw, were transhipped in the River Stour estuary at Mistley into Thames barges for transport to London for the horses; they brought back horse-manure for the wheat and barley fields that lie on both sides of the river. During the Great War of 1914–18, and fearing German invasion, the remaining fourteen Stour Lighters were scuttled in Ballingdon Cut. One of these was raised and completely rebuilt by the Pioneer Trust in Brightlingsea. It was delivered, fitted with electric propulsion, to the River Stour Trust in 2012.
Notable people[edit]
As noted above, the artist Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury[18][39] and fellow painter John Constable[40] worked in and near the town. A 14th-century Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury,[41] was born in the town as was, more recently, author Joel Willans,[42] artists Maggi Hambling[43] and Amanda Ansell,[44] and professional footballer Stuart Slater.[45] Adrian Bell wrote his classic agricultural memoir Corduroy at his parents' rented house in the town.[46] The Bayning family of Nayland, originally cloth merchants, entered the spice trade and were joint founders of the East India Company.[47] Paul Bayning (1588–1629) was knighted in 1611 and created Viscount Bayning of Sudbury in 1628 Scottish-born musician Jack Bruce, lead singer and bassist of the rock band Cream, died in Sudbury on 25 October 2014.
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