Sudbury, which stands upon the Stour, over which it has a handsome bridge. It was anciently called South- burgh, from its situation with respect to Norwich, which was called Northburgh, and is supposed to have been formerly the principal town in the county, and was one of the first places where King Edward the Third settled some Dutchmen, whom he had invited over, to teach the English the woollen manufacture, which they were wholly ignorant of before; and the woollen trade has continued here ever since. It is an exceeding dirty, but a good manufacturing town; it containing a great number of people, who earn their livelihood by working up the wool from the sheep’s back, to the weaving it into says and burying crape, which are their principal articles. They also weave ship flags.

Sudbury is a town-corporate, governed by a mayor, a recorder, six aldermen, twenty-four capital burgesses, or common-councilmen, a town-clerk, a bailiff, and two serjeants at mace. It first returned members in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1559, and sends two members to parliament, elected by the freemen at large, and his grace the Duke of Grafton takes the title of Baron from this place.

Sudbury at present consists of three parishes, and has the same number of large and handsome parish churches, St. Gregory’s, St. Peter’s, and All-Saints. Simon Sudbury, who was Archbishop of Canterbury, and beheaded by the rabble, in Wat Tyler’s insurrection, was a native of this place; and founded a college where his father’s house stood, which he endowed so well, that it was valued at the suppression at 122l.

18s. per annum. Here was also a priory of the order of St. Augustine, founded, according to some, by the same archbishop, and John de Chertsey; but others say, it was erected by Baldwin de Shipling, and Mable his wife, who lie buried in the chancel of the priory church. This priory had a revenue, valued at the dissolution at 222l. 18s. 3d. per annum. Amicia, countess of Clare, in the reign of King John, founded an hospital in this town, dedicated to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary; and near this town was a church or chapel, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, which Wulfric, master of the mint to King Henry the Second, gave to the Abbey of Westminster, on which a priory of Benedictine Monks was settled in this church, subordinate to Westminster Abbey. This town has a marked on Saturdays for all sorts of provisions; and it consisted, according to the late population act, of 819 houses and 2950 inhabitants.

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SUDBURY is a municipal borough, market and union town, head of a county court district, station on the Stour Valley branch of the Great Eastern railway, and is 16 miles south from Bury, St. Edmunds, 33 ½ west from Ipswich by rail, 56 from London by road and 58 by railway, in the Southern division of the county, hundred of Babergh, Metford petty sessional division, rural deanery, and archdeaconry of Sudbury and diocese of Ely. The town is on the left bank of the river Stour, which here divides the county from Essex, and the river is navigable for barges, but the navigation is not good, and the traffic on the river has been almost superseded by the railway.

In the Saxon Chronicle, Sudbury is written Suthberie (or south-borough), a name it is supposed to have obtained in order to distinguish it from Norwich; it is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. By the Conqueror the town was given to Richard de Clare, and from the Earls of that name the town derived its earliest privileges: it is a borough by prescription, and gives the title of baron to the Duke of Grafton: it was once a place of note, and one of the first towns in which Edward III. settled the Flemings, in order to instruct his subjects in the woollen manufacture. A church and priory, of which few vestiges remain, were erected here in 1272 for Dominican friars. The Knights Hospitallers had a house near the bridge, with the tolls of which it was endowed, and near the town was a Benedictine cell, attached to Westminster Abbey.

The town is lighted with gas from works erected at a cost of £5,000 in 1836, and belonging to a private company, lessee, C. W. Grimwade. Water is supplied from deep wells in the chalk from works erected in 1872, at a cost of £8,000, under the management of the town council. The town was incorporated in 1554 by Queen Mary, whose charter was confirmed by Queen Elizabeth in 1559. A fresh charter was granted during the Protectorate, but this was superseded by another of Charles II. The corporation now consists of a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors (one of whom is mayor). The borough has a Commission of the Peace and a separate court of quarter sessions; the sessions are held in the Town Hall.

Sudbury first, sent members to Parliament in 1562, when two representatives were returned; and continued to do so until 1844, when it was disfranchised.

The town consists of four parishes: All Saints’, a vicarage, with Ballingdon annexed, and the rectory of St. Gregory with the vicarage of St. Peter, and the parish of St. Bartholomew, which was formerly extra-parochial.

All Saints’ church was, from 1150 to the Reformation, appropriated to the abbey of St. Alban: it is a fine structure of flint and rubble, principally in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 8 bells: the pulpit dates from 1490, and there are rich parclose screens: the north chapel has been the burial place of the Eden family, and in the south aisle some of the ancestors of Earl Waldegrave are interred: the stained glass in all the Sudbury churches was destroyed by Dowsing in 1643; this church was restored in 1882 at a cost of about £1,500, and a stained east window erected to Samuel Brown and Sarah, his wife: there are 600 sittings, 250 being free. The register dates from the year 1564. The living is a vicarage, with Ballingdon annexed, joint net yearly value £205, including 6 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Simeon’s trustees, and held since 1876 by the Rev. Charles John Stower, of St. Aidans. C. B. Sperling esq. of Dynes Hall, Essex, is the impropriator of the great tithes.

There was a church at Brundon as well as in Ballingdon, but both have ceased to exist. For a long period the Windbam family, the patrons of the impropriate rectory and the owners of the Brundon Hall estate, paid £13 6s. 8d. to the vicar of All Saints, Sudbury, for the use of that church: the estate has now passed into the possession of Lord Ashburton.

St. Gregory and St. Peter form a united ecclesiastical parish. The church of St. Gregory, formerly collegiate, is an edifice in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch, aisles and an embattled western tower containing 8 bells: the font, which is modern, has a cover of rich ancient pre-Reformation carved tabernacle work, and is one of the three of its kind in England: in the chapel of St. Anne is a tomb and inscribed tablet to Thomas Carter esq. who died in 1706: the head of Simon Theobald or de Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was beheaded by the rabble in Wat Tyler’s insurrection, 14 June, 1381, is still to be seen in a niche in the vestry in a remarkable state of preservation; his body wag interred in Canterbury cathedral: a stained window was placed at the east end of the chancel in 1878, and two others in the south aisle in 1884 and 1898: there are 500 sittings. The register dates from the year 1590. The church of St. Peter is a structure of flint and rubble, with stone dressings, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a tower with open spire containing a clock and 8 bells: there are eight stained windows, including one placed in 1896 to the late Mr. G. W. Andrewes, for 49 years churchwarden: the church was restored in 1854: the chancel has been decorated from the designs of Mr. G. F. Bodley A.R.A, and a fine reredos, also designed by him, was erected in 1897, at the cost of the Misses Brown, in memory of their sisters: there are 800 sittings. The register dates from the year 1639. The living of the united parishes is a rectory, net yearly value £280, including 4 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Ely, and held since 1893 by the Rev. Benjamin Stannard Fryer MA. of Jesus College, Cambridge, and surrogate.

The Catholic mission to this place was begun in 1876, a house in Church street serving as a place of worship and the services being conducted by priests of the Institute of St. Andrew, Barnet, Herts; in 1880 a resident priest was appointed: the mission was removed in 1881 to its present position on the west side of the Croft, and the site, which belonged to Mr. Woodall, was subsequently purchased. The Catholic church, dedicated to Our Lady and St. John the Evangelist, adjoining the Presbytery, was erected from charities collected during the three years’ ministry of the Rev. W. Fippard, the foundation stone being laid by the Right Rev. Dr. Riddell, Bishop of Northampton, 29 June, 1893, and the church opened 12 Dec. in the same year; it is of red brick, with Bath stone dressings, from designs by Mr. Leonard Stokes, architect, and consists of nave, chancel, side chapel, porch and tower with spire, and will seat 150 people. There are niches for statues of Our Saviour, Our Lady and St. John the Apostle: under the nave is a crypt and below the chancel a sacristy. The old house in Church street has been pulled down, and the site inclosed.

The Convent, formerly known as The Shrubbery, was presented by Mr. John Kelly, of Providence, R. I. America, in 1884, to the Servants of the Sacred Heart, a French order from Versailles, and a school is carried on by the Sisters, irrespective of denomination.

There are two Congregational, two Baptist and one Primitive Methodist chapels, and the Society of Friends have a place of meeting.

The Cemetery is in the Newton road, about a quarter of a mile from the town, and contains an area of 6 acres 3 roods 28 poles, with two mortuary chapels.

The Town Hall and Corn Exchange are substantial buildings.

The Literary and Mechanics’ Institution, established in 1834, has two large reading rooms, supplied with the leading periodicals and papers and an excellent library, containing upwards of 2,000 volumes; also a billiard room; there are about 200 members; a variety of entertainments are provided during the winter session.

The Victoria Hall, opened in 1887, is a building of red brick, in Prince street, containing a large stage with anterooms and a gallery, and is licensed for the performance of stage plays; it will hold 650 persons.

The Conservative Club, in New street, opened in 1886, consists of billiard, chess, card, bath and committee rooms, with a residence for the steward; a library has been added and lady members are admitted; smoking concerts are held during the winter months; there are 650 members.

The Liberal Club, in North street, erected in 1887, is a structure of red brick with white stone dressings, in the Queen Anne style and contains an entrance hall, committee room, large reading room or lecture hall and a recreation room on the first floor.

Here are cocoa-nut matting and silk weaving manufactories, flour mills, malt & lime kilns and a brewery. Malting is very extensively carried on and many of the inhabitants are also employed in the manufacture of silk velvet, stays and mats.

A corn and cattle market is held on Thursday, and a general market on Saturday. The fairs once held in March and July, have been abolished.

St. Leonard’s Hospital, pleasantly seated on an elevated spot on the Newton road, commanding a picturesque view of the Stour valley, was founded in 1867, and together with the site, cost about £1,500; it has two large wards for males and females, with smaller separation wards and bath room attached on each side, and has 14. beds and 2 cots; there is an operating theatre on the ground floor: the institution is supported by voluntary contributions and an old charity for the relief of lepers, established by Archbishop Theobald, and afterwards endowed by one John Colney, the whole producing a yearly income of about £40: during the year 1899 the number of patients admitted was 114.

Thomas Gainsborough R.A. the celebrated artist, was born at Sudbury in 1727, and died 2 Aug. 1788.

The area of Sudbury is 896 acres of land and 15 of water; assessable value, £17,071. The area of Sudbury St. Bartholomew is 158 acres; assessable value, £117. The population of the borough, which includes the townships of Ballingdon-cum-Brundon, in 1881 was 6,548; 1891 was 7,234, distributed as follows:-All Saints parish, 1,109; St. Bartholomew’s parish, 5; St. Gregory's and St. Peter’s parish: St. Gregory, 3,611 and St.Peter’s, 1,608; total, 5,389 (including officers and inmates of workhouse, 170).

Ballingdon-cum-Brundon, a suburb of Sudbury, but in Essex, will be found fully described in Kelly’s Directory of that county.

Sudbury Union

Board day, Thur.; meetings held fortnightly at 11 a.m.

The union comprises the following parishes in Suffolk Acton, Alpheton, Assington, Saint Bartholomew, Boxted, Bures St. Mary, Cavendish, Chilton, Cornard (Great), Cornard (Little), Glemsford, Hartest, Hawkedon, Lawshall, Melford, Nayland, Newton, Shimpling, Somerton, Stanstead, Stoke-by-Nayland, Sudbury, Waldingfield (Great), Waldingfield (Little) & Wissington; rateable value in 1899, £69,788, & the following parishes in Essex:-Alphamstone, Ballingdon, Otten Belchamp, Belchamp St. Paul, Belchamp Walter, Borley, Bulmer, Bures Hamlet, Foxearth, Gestingthorpe, Henny (Great), Henny (Little), Lamarsh, Liston, Middleton, North Wood, Pentloe, Twinstead & Wickham St. Paul; rateable value in 1899, £19,395; the area of the entire union is 80,652 acres, & population in 1891 was 29,612.

The Workhouse, in the parish of St. Gregory, is a red brick building on the banks of the Stour, & will hold 422 inmates.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

All Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

All Saints’ Church, Rev. Charles John Stoweyr, vicar.

St. Gregory’s.

St. Peter’s.

At St. Peter's Church, daily services are at 9.15 a.m. & 6 p.m.; holy communion 3 times on Sundays, Thur. & holy days at 7.30.

Our Lady & St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church & Presbytery, Rev. Augustine P. Peacock B.D. priest; holy communion 8.30 a.m.; mass 10.30; catechism & benediction 3 p.m.; choral devotion, sermon & solemn benediction 6.30 p.m.; daily mass at 7.30 a.m.; benediction every Tues. 8 p.m.

Friends’ Meeting House, Friars st.; Wed. 10.30 a.m. seats 200.

Baptist, Church street; seats 600.

Baptist (Ebezener), New street (no resident minister).

Congregational (Trinity) Chapel, School street, Rev. Sydney R. Laver; Tues. 8 p.m. seats 700.

Congregational, Friars street, Rev. Thomas Geo. Boyne A.T.S. seats 1,200.

Primitive Methodist, Gregory street, Rev. Isaac Ashworth, seats 300.

SCHOOLS

Grammar School, founded in 1491 by William Wood & since re-erected in the Early English style; the number of boys in 1900 was 56.

A School Board of 7 members was formed 23 April, 1888; Thomas Bates, 13 Friars street, clerk to the board.

Board School, Mill lane, built in 1846, & since enlarged, for 260 boys, 260 girls & 300 infants; average attendance, 215 boys, 170 girls & 180 infant.

St. Gregory’s & St. Peter’s Church Schools, North st. enlarged in 1895, for 200 boys & 165 girls; the infants’ school was rebuilt in 1899—1900, for 280 children; average attendance, 200 boys, 140 girls & 220 infants.