Location

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. The town is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, as a market town where the local people came to barter their goods. The weaving and silk industries prospered for centuries during the Late Middle Ages and Sudbury prospered too, 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 Sudbury, a sign of both the importance and of the wealth of the donors.

One citizen of Sudbury, Archbishop Simon Sudbury showed that not even the Tower of London guaranteed 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 Church, one of the three medieval churches in Sudbury.

During the 1700's Sudbury became famous for its local artists. John Constable painted in the area, especially the River Stour, and Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury in 1727, and educated at Sudbury's Grammar School. His birthplace, now named Gainsborough House, is a museum to his work and open to the public. It houses many valuable pictures and some of his family possessions. A statue of Gainsborough was unveiled in the town outside St Peter's Church on Market Hill in 1913. Click below for more details of the local area.