Sudbury, Suffolk

Sudbury is a small, ancient market town in the county of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour, 15 miles from Colchester and 60 miles from London.

History

Sudbury was a borough until the local government reorganisation of 1974. Since then it has been a civil parish; being an urban area the parish council and its chair are known as the Town Council and Town Mayor respectively.

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Sudbury's history dates back into the age of the Saxons, the town's earliest mention is in 799 AD, when Aelfhun, Bishop of Dunwich, died in the town.

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In 1086, the town is also mentioned in the Domesday Book, as a market town where the local people came to barter their goods.

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The weaving and silk industries prospered 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.

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The Woolsack 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.

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One citizen of Sudbury, Archbishop Simon Sudbury showed that the not even the Tower of London guarantees safety. On 14 June 1381 guards opened the Tower's doors and allowed revolting peasants to enter. Sudbury, inventor of the Poll Tax, was dragged to Tower Hill and beheaded. His body was afterwards buried in Canterbury Cathedral, but his skull is kept in St. Gregory's with St. Peter's Church, one of the three medieval churches in Sudbury.

Related Topics:
Simon Sudbury - Tower of London - 14 June - 1381 - Revolting peasants - Poll Tax - Medieval

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During the eighteenth century Sudbury became famous for its local artists. John Constable painted in the area, especially the River Stour. Painter Thomas Gainsborough was born there in 1727, who was educated at the local Grammar School. His birthplace, Gainsborough House, is now a museum to his work and is open to the public. It houses many valuable pictures, and some of his family possessions. In 1913 a statue of Gainsborough was unveiled in the Town centre, outside St Peter's Church, on The Market Hill.

Related Topics:
John Constable - Thomas Gainsborough

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The railway arrived in Sudbury in 1847 - see Sudbury station. The town escaped the Beeching Axe of the 1960s and maintained its rail link with London, although it became the terminus of the Stour Valley Line, and many villages further up the River lost their rail stations. Road links with the major cities of the area are being improved, and the river has fallen into disuse as a commercial artery.

Related Topics:
Sudbury station - Beeching Axe - Stour Valley Line

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Once a busy and important river port, the last industrial building on the riverside has been converted into the previously successful Quay Theatre, which has seen waning popularity and financial hardship in recent times.

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However the river is no longer subject to the local ordinance of 9 November 1893, when the Town Council decided that bathing in the river was to be banned after 8 am, except at Dobs Hole, where screens had been erected.

Related Topics:
9 November - 1893

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