Sudbury, Suffolk

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Sudbury
Town crest featuring a Talbot dog.
Sudbury shown within Suffolk
Population	12,080 [1]
OS grid reference	TL8741
District	Babergh
Shire county	Suffolk
Region	East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SUDBURY
Postcode district	CO10
Dialling code	01787
Police	Suffolk
Fire	Suffolk
Ambulance	East of England
European Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	South Suffolk
List of places: UK • England • Suffolk

Coordinates: 52°02′30″N 0°43′41″E / 52.0417, 0.72815

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.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Victorian times to present day 2 Sports 3 International links 3.1 Twin towns 4 Famous Sudburians 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

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.^[2] The town is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, as a market town where the local people came to barter their goods.^[2]

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. 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 revolting peasants to enter. Sudbury, inventor of the Poll Tax, was dragged to Tower Hill and beheaded.^[3] His body was afterwards buried in Canterbury Cathedral, but his skull is kept in St. Gregory’s with St. Peter’s Church,^[4] one of the three medieval churches in Sudbury.

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 in Sudbury in 1727, and was educated at Grammar School.^[5] His birthplace, now named 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. A statue of Gainsborough was unveiled in the town centre outside St Peter’s Church on Market Hill in 1913.^[2]

[edit] Victorian times to present day

The 1832 Reform Act saw the villages of Ballingdon and Brundon appended to the town.^[6] In the 1841 general election Sudbury became the first place in the UK to elect a member of an ethnic minority to parliament, with David Dye Sombre, the son of an Indian queen, winning the seat. However, he was not allowed to take his place in parliament as he was subsequently declared insane.^[7]

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 it became the terminus of the Gainsborough Line, and many villages further up the River lost their rail stations. Road links with the major cities of the area are being improved. Once a busy and important river port the last industrial building on the riverside in Sudbury has been converted into the Quay Theatre, which has seen waning popularity and financial hardship in recent times. 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 a.m., except at Dobs Hole, where screens had been erected.

The Sudbury Society was formed in 1973 after a successful campaign to save the town's Corn Exchange from developers. However, in protecting its ancient centre the town has not shut itself off from modern development. As the town has expanded (to a population in 2004 of 22,300) modern retail and industrial developments have been added on sites close to the centre and on the eastern edge at Chilton. The eighteenth and nineteenth century houses near the town centre have been added to by modern developments.

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.

[edit] Sports

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 F.C. (founded 1885) and Sudbury Wanderers F.C. (founded 1958).

The local rugby club, Sudbury R.F.C. have previously played as high as the fourth tier of English rugby, but are currently in London 4 North East. The club's ground is in neighbouring village, Great Cornard.

[edit] International links

The Canadian city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario (formerly known as Sudbury) was named for Sudbury, Suffolk. The then-commissioner of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which played a major role in the Canadian city's founding, was married to a woman who had been born at Sudbury, Suffolk, and the name was chosen to honour her.^[8]

[edit] Twin towns

Sudbury is twinned with the following towns:

• Höxter, Germany
• Clermont, France.
• Fredensborg, Denmark

[edit] Famous Sudburians

• Thomas Gainsborough, artist
• John Constable (a local if not a native of the town), artist
• Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Stuart Slater, former Premier League footballer for Ipswich Town

[edit] See also

• Sudbury Upper School

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sudbury Community Website
• Sudbury Town Council
• Suffolk Free Press - Sudbury-based weekly newspaper
• Gainsborough’s House Museum
• Babergh District Council
• Sudbury RFC - RFU