Sudbury Heritage Centre
Welcome
Welcome to Sudbury Heritage Centre Online, the website of the Sudbury Museum Trust. Scrolling down we introduce you to our Heritage Centre in the Town Hall with its entrance in Gaol Lane. We hope that the brief description and images will tempt you to visit the Centre if you live locally or are visiting the town.
The second part of our website gives you direct access to a wide range of online content. For example, you can explore the Sudbury Photo Archive, find out more about the USAAF 486th Bomber Squadron during 1944-45 or explore the Virtual Museum
The Local History Booth housed in the Heritage Centre shows screen presentations on many different aspects of Sudbury history, put together by our team of individual researchers. You can also find these presentations here on our website.
One of our trustees, Ashley Cooper, a well known local author and historian, has recently engaged with some of Sudbury’s seniors to discover their varied memories of Sudbury over the years. Videos of these can be found at
The Ashley Cooper Interviews
Visitor Information
Watch this website for updates and view LATEST NEWS
Free Admission
Opening Hours
Monday to Thursday – 09:45 to 16.30 (Friday 4pm)
Saturday – open 10am – 1pm
Sundays & Bank Holidays – closed
Accessibility
The Heritage Centre is accessible for wheelchairs and visitors with limited mobility.
Both the carpark in Girling Street and the carpark between North Street and Croft Road are within a short walk of the entrance. Parking is free but you must take a parking ticket which limits you to a maximum three-hour stay. There is a free long term carpark next to the Kingfisher Leisure Centre off Great Eastern Road.
Sudbury Heritage Centre
Town Hall
Gaol Lane
Sudbury
Suffolk
CO10 1TL
Click the map below to enlarge, or find us on Google Maps
Discover Sudbury’s Heritage Online
Sudbury Photo Archive
The market town of Sudbury, on the borders of Suffolk and Essex, has a long and fascinating history. Much of the way of life in the town since the invention of photography has been caught on camera. The Sudbury Museum Trust has developed this website to show and provide information on a selection of these photographs.
Virtual Museum
View on-line, interesting objects that we can’t have on general display, such as the partly mummified head of Simon of Sudbury preserved in St Gregory’s Church, the mummified cat preserved in the Mill Hotel to ward off evil spirits or this 17th century wall painting in a private house. Explore them using the drop down menu.
Recent Research
‘Recent Research’ contains previously unpublished articles on topics of local interest, reflecting the research carried out by the many people who take an active interest in Sudbury’s fascinating local history. Some of the articles are based on the popular local history talks which are given each year at the Quay Theatre.
WW1 Roll of Honour
During the First World War 236 men from Sudbury families joined the war effort and lost their lives, not always in action. Some died of disease, others in accidents. Here are just a few of their stories.
WW2 Roll of Honour
In the war years of 1939-1945 Sudbury men fought on land, in the air and at sea, in all the main theatres of war including the jungles of the Far East and the deserts of North Africa. This tells the stories of some of the 60 who died in this conflict.
Americans in Sudbury
A deserted airfield lies just to the east of Sudbury. For some eighteen months in 1944-45 this was ‘home’ to some 3,000 young American GIs of the 486th Bomber Group. B17 and B24 heavy bombers took off on missions into Occupied Europe. This part of our website tells the story of the 486th and is dedicated to the memory of those who died.
In 2007 the Sudbury Museum Trust acquired a folder of early 1885 Ordnance Survey maps of Sudbury. Each of the 15 maps measures 97 x 65 cm and covers a small area of the town in incredible detail, even showing garden paths and trees. Here you can view each of the maps online.
Recording history as it happens
Celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in Sudbury
Memories of Sudbury Platinum Jubilee, held during 2022, will fade but Sudbury Museum Trust is making sure they live on. Dozens of candid photos taken at the official town events.
Volunteer cameraman David Higgleton mingled with the crowds to catch the atmosphere as all ages celebrated the longest reign in our history.
LOCAL HISTORY BOOTH
The Heritage Centre has a large interactive screen in the Local History Booth. Here you can discover fascinating subjects such as
– Simon of Sudbury and the Peasants’ Revolt
– Mark Catesby, an internationally recognised naturalist and artist
who explored America in C18th
– The coming of the Railway to Sudbury
– Death from the Sky’ – the story of a Zeppelin raid
Most subjects are now available to view online CLICK HERE
What to see
Moments after you step through the door you realise that you are in an unusual space. Moored high on your left is an airship, a two-metre long model of the German Zeppelin that raided Sudbury in WWI. Below is a bomb dropped that night in 1916 and recovered from the river.
Curved panels and display cases offer windows on the town’s past from the Iron Age to the 21st Century and you can even meet Simon of Sudbury face to face. He was once one of the most powerful men in England, as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. When he had to put up the tax he was victimised and beheaded in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
Conflict dominates the area to the right of the entrance. The town’s war memorial outside St Gregory’s Church lists the names of the 300 Sudbury men and women who died in the two World Wars but here a series of panels reveals more about their lives and deaths and also the experiences of the 3000 young Americans who were stationed here in WWII.
Star exhibit is a painting by Steven Binks of a crippled American Flying Fortress bomber zooming out of a birds’ eye view of Sudburyduring WW2. Next to it you’ll discover the Local History Booth. This is a virtual storybook of many aspects of the town’s history for you to browse on a large, user-friendly touch screen.
Passing through the doorway you can explore more of Sudbury’s long history. There are three more screens, two with permanent displays of images exploring Edwardian Sudbury and religious life in the town. The third is an interactive screen that gives access to more than 1,300 historic images of the town and its people, some captured in the 1850s when photography was in its infancy.
Stuff for Kids
The Heritage Centre welcomes visits from school parties. These can be pre-arranged if class teachers contact our Education Officer by e-mail. It may be possible for one of our volunteers to take visitor groups around the museum and give more in-depth knowledge about the various displays.
There is also a series of Quiz Sheets to help young people to engage with the different aspects of the history represents. There are hard copies at the Heritage Centre or you can download them them to print out before you arrive.
Each year during the Summer Holidays we partner with Sudbury Town Council to hold a competion quiz based on Sudbury’s town Centre history. This encourages children to explore outdoors and create awareness of the historical significance of some of the town’s buldings.
Publications
The Painter, The Princess and The Statue
Celebrating One Hundred Years of Gainsborough on Sudbury’s Market Hill
Edited by Valerie Herbert
80 page, Hardback. Over 130 illustrations
Designed by Robin Drury
£9.95
Stockists:
Tourist Information Centre, Sudbury Town Hall
Chiltonbooks.online
What’s in a Name? (new edition)
Origins of Sudbury Street Names
Written by Anthony Wheeler, Edited by Valerie Herbert
Designed by Robin Drury
Profusely illustrated, 28 pages, A5
£5
Stockists:
Tourist Information Centre, Sudbury Town Hall
No Glorious Dead
The impact of war on Sudbury, a Suffolk market town
Written by Valerie Herbert & Shirley Smith.
Designed by Robin Drury
Profusely illustrated, 148 pages.
£9.95
Stockists:
Tourist Information Centre, Sudbury Town Hall
Brundon
The enigma in Sudbury’s shadow
The story of this tiny rural hamlet just across the river from Sudbury. Written by David Burnett. A4 format with glossy cover. 33 pages with map and illustrations.
NOW OUT OF PRINT
Chilton. The First Three Thousand Years
Written by David Burnett,
Edited by Valerie Herbert
152 pages, A4. Profusely illustrated
Special offer – £7.00
Stockists:
Sudbury TIC, Sudbury Town Hall
Chiltonbooks.online
Friends of The Heritage Centre
Why not join the Friends of Sudbury Heritage Centre? It is Internet based, free and without any commitment on your part although some members choose to become more involved. They host occasional sessions when the Heritage Centre is open on Saturday mornings, Others help with schools based projects and research.
Join the Friends
Useful Information
Contact Us
You might wish to comment on the content of our website, offer further information on an old photograph or perhaps offer a Sudbury related item to our collection. However we cannot offer help with family history research – please refer enquiries to the Sudbury Group of the Suffolk Family History Society.
Useful Links
Visitors may also like to visit the following websites:
The Sudbury Society
Sudbury Ephemera Archive
Sudbury Freemen’s Society
Suffolk Family History Society
Gainsborough’s House
Long Melford Historical Society
Foxearth History Society / Sudbury
Sudbury Market – Past and Present
The Building of Sudbury Railway