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A Brief Guide to Sudbury
Sudbury is a thriving and ancient market town set in the heart of the River Stour valley and well known as the home of Thomas Gainsborough. Further down river is the landscape which inspired John Constable. The whole valley area is today designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
An Iron Age settlement once occupied the high ground in Sudbury, roughly between The Croft and Stour Street, but the foundation of the present town dates from the Middle Saxon period. The present semi-circular street pattern represents successive expansions of the town in Saxon and Norman times.
The medieval woollen cloth industry, the coming of the River Navigation and the Railway and the 19th Century silk industry, all helped to generate prosperity and contributed to the unique and diverse building heritage that is Sudbury's pride. For example there are three fine medieval churches and impressive timber framed cloth merchant's houses but also many terraces of three storey 19th Century silk weaver's cottages where the weavers worked at their hand looms lit by the wide first floor windows.
The main shopping area centres on Market Hill and the streets radiating from it, particularly North Street. Market Hill itself is a fine public space, although perhaps its architecture is best appreciated on a Sunday morning when it is quieter and there are fewer cars about.
On Thursdays and Saturdays Market Hill is crowded with stalls for the long established markets which attract shoppers from the town and the surrounding villages and communities.
A short walk down Gainsborough Street is Gainsborough's House, the painter's birthplace, now an excellent museum and gallery. From Friars Street, with its elegant Georgian facades, you may turn down Quay Lane to reach another of Sudbury's special features, the area around The Quay.
For two centuries the River Stour Navigation was the main artery of the town and a busy barge traffic linked the town with the sea. Here one old warehouse has been converted to a Theatre and the other into the Headquarters of the River Stour Trust.
Whilst being proud of its heritage Sudbury does not live in the past and has many other attractions. The town won the coveted Anglia in Bloom Award in 2001 and 2002.
There is ample free parking close to the centre and a wide range of both specialist small town shops, including two privately owned bookshops and many high street names. On the edge of town along the Eastern Bypass there are a growing number of large stores and other commercial outlets. The town centre has an array of restaurants and cafes to suit all tastes, and friendly local pubs serving East Anglian beers. Visiting families might explore Belle Vue Park, one of the town's hidden attractions yet only a few minutes walk from Market Hill. The Kingfisher Leisure Centre is in Station Road with free parking and Waitrose supermarket nearby.
We have left perhaps the best thing to last. Sudbury has a vibrant commercial heart yet the visitor can leave the bustle of North Street and Market Hill in any of a number of directions and within a few minutes be enjoying the peace and quiet beauty of the riverside meadows which loop around the town and offer a place to sit and picnic, fish or take a leisurely stroll. This close relationship of town and country is one of Sudbury's unique features and makes it such a special place both for residents and visitors.
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Market Hill
Morris dancers outside the Mill Hotel
17th Century houses
Gainsborough's statue
Gardens in School Street
A day out on the River Stour
View of Sudbury from the water meadows
