Sudbury - home of Thomas Gainsborough

Sudbury in Suffolk has several interesting features, but of them all, I suppose being the birthplace of the famous painter Thomas Gainsborough, must rank as its greatest.

It is a town that I used to visit on a regular basis, indeed the office of the company I worked for was in the market square. Sudbury has some beautiful walks, especially across the water meadows and along the riverfront. So many places to point my camera!

Painter Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury in 1727, and was educated at Sudbury Grammar School. His birthplace, now named Gainsborough's House (below), is 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 (above) was unveiled in the town centre outside St Peter's Church on Market Hill in 1913.

The house in Gainsborough Street (naturally) where he lived.

Sudbury has some lovely old properties such as this fine block with The Chantry, a grade I listed building, 15th century, next door to the similarly aged Salter's Hall to the right.

Salters Hall was home to a private fee-paying school from the 1880s until the late 20th century. The last school to be housed in the building was the Preparatory School known as Salters Hall.

The Old Moot Hall, used as such before the later hall was built on Market Hill in the reign of Mary Tudor. There is some evidence that this building continued to be used for civic purposes in the reign of James I. His arms are painted on the chimney breast of a downstairs chamber.

A plaque affixed to the birthplace of Sir George Murray Humphry, M.D., F.R.S., surgeon, anatomist and physiologist by the Sudbury Freemen’s Trust, may be seen on the gable of Hardwicke House, Stour Street, Sudbury. It is fitting that the birthplace of so eminent a surgeon is now a doctors’ surgery.

Vanners was founded in 1740 and was originally based in London. In the late 18th century, the company moved to Suffolk. They designs, develops, and manufactures silk fabrics and products for the luxury menswear, fashion, and furnishing markets. In fact, silk woven by Vanners has been worn by the Queen at her coronation, royal brides, former US First Lady Michelle Obama, and singer Adele.

Unfortunately, markets change, and in 2019, Vanners called in administrators after losing nearly 70% of its market. This was due to the US retailer Brooks Brothers going into receivership and the closure of airport shopping centers due to the pandemic.

Built for the Sudbury Silk Weaving Company which became Vanners and Fennell in 1924. Still occupied by Vanners, housing their shop and offices. Local people have worked in the silk mills behind this Gregory Street frontage for over 100 years.

The Church of St Gregory is a Church of England parish church. First mentioned in the 10th century, most of the present building dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. However, by 1860, the fabric of the building had deteriorated to such an extent that the church had to be closed. The restoration work was completed in 1862. It is now a Grade I listed building.

The church famously possesses the head of Archbishop Simon Sudbury, who was beheaded by rebels during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

Simon was born in Sudbury in circa 1316. He had various roles during his life including, Bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England. He had also helped to found a college in Sudbury and a lepers hospital. In the early summer of 1381 however, A group of artisans and officials from Brentwood rose up in protest against demands to pay the hated poll tax. They also had other demands such as the end of serfdom (a kind of labour where you are tied to work for a particular manor or lord).

Simon had helped to introduce this poll tax and so it was on 14 June 1481, peasants stormed into the Tower of London where Simon was and murdered him by chopping off his head. It allegedly took 8 blows of the axe to remove his head. His body was sent to Canterbury Cathedral but his head was placed on a spike on London Bridge for a while, a notorious place for traitors heads to be placed. The head however was taken by friends of Simon back to Sudbury.

The exceptionally tall and elaborate font cover, dating from the 15th century, was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "One of the finest medieval font covers in the country".The lowest section of the 12-foot (3.7 m) tall cover was adapted in the 19th century to telescope upwards, so as to avoid having to lift the whole edifice in order to use the font - clever!

In 1999, a statue in memory of Bishop Aelfhun of Dunwich was unveiled by Terry Waite after Sudbury’s annual civic service. It is situated on the Croft, just outside the east wall of St. Gregory’s churchyard. The Bishop died in Sudbury in 798 AD, and it is thanks to him that reference was made to Sudbury in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – so making it Suffolk’s oldest remaining recorded town.

St. Peter's Church is now known as Sudbury Arts Centre. This vast, magnificent medieval church dominates the town of Sudbury from the top of Market Hill. It is largely a fifteenth-century rebuilding of a much earlier structure. Butterfield restored the stunning Victorian interior in 1854-1858.

On this day I was trying to capture the various Armistice Day celebrations around the area and was captivated by this one. Especially as a rainbow appeared briefly in the sky behind. Magic!

Another attraction of Sudbury are the Water Meadows which are great areas in which to have a stroll, something we have done on numerous occasions.

Two images by the river looking toward the town. Taken early(ish) in the morning on a frosty day.

In the meadows, but in late December, with large areas flooded and looking toward Sudbury Mill.  A watermill was recorded here in 1086. It is likely that there were two or more mills here throughout the medieval period, at least one cereal mill and one fulling mill. The present mill retains traces of a timber-framed building but is mainly of about 1890. The waterwheel of 1889 (which still turns) was augmented by steam powered rollers in the early twentieth century. The mill was taken over by the Clover family about 1850 and they owned the mill until it closed in 1964 when it was producing animal feed rather than flour. The mill has since been developed as the Mill Hotel.

Picnic anybody?

More images of the flooded Water Meadows

The Old Bathing Place was opened on the river in 1898 and was in use until the late 1930s when it was closed after an outbreak of diphtheria in the town. There are steps for the bathers to descend into a semi-circular section for non-swimmers which divided by an iron rails from the deep water. Once they could swim they could go out further - there are also steps on the opposite bank. Local historical significance - generations of Sudburians used this bathing place.

All in all, a lovely town which I have enjoyed being in.

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Aldeburgh and The Scallop

Aldeburgh is one of my favourite seaside town as it has many varied things to see, apart from beach and sea! These range from Maggi Hambling’s The Scallop, to a lighthouse in the town and a great Moot Hall. So, on another glorious day, we started our tour with a walk along by the river, and then explored the town. I must confess that some of the images were from a previous visit!

With your back to the river, this is your view of the town, as you start the riverside walk. Very pleasant too, with many birds (if you are lucky)

Fort Green Mill is a tower mill at which has been converted to residential accommodation, and was built in 1824. It was converted into a house in 1902.It was a four storey tower mill and had four patent sails and the domed cap was winded by a fantail. It had two pairs of millstones. Earlier photographs of the working mill shows that the sails were double patents carried on a cast iron wind shaft and the fantail had six blades. 

The lookout 

Copied from "Visit Suffolk" - The bonds between Aldeburgh, art, and the sea have always been strong ones. The Aldeburgh coastline has captured the hearts of many artists through the centuries, and when international art dealer Caroline Wiseman first set eyes on the dramatic landscape, she too found herself entranced by its siren call.Caroline has spent over 25 years working in the art world and has established successful open-house galleries in New York, London and Aldeburgh. She bought the Lookout, an extraordinary nineteenth century tower on the seafront, which came with a home on Crag Path adjacent, on the proviso that it must be used for artistic purposes. 

Benjamin Britten also famously did much of his composing on Aldeburgh beach. Citing artists’ retreat the Lightning Field in New Mexico as her inspiration, Caroline set about turning the Lookout into a place where both established and exciting up-and-coming artists could come and be seized by that same magic. 

Since 2011 Caroline has been offering week-long residencies at the Lookout, the rules of which are simple; firstly the artist must create new work over the course of the week, and secondly they must spend one full night in the tower. 

What a great idea! 

The Old Custom House, listed as 1703, has a fascinating raised front door but no-one is able to explain why. The two big ground-floor windows seem out of scale and were a late addition. 

Not sure of this cottage, but just loved the look. 

Perhaps one of the smallest houses you’ll ever see, right on the seafront in Aldeburgh, in the car park behind 152 High Street, is this tiny building. Consisting of a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom, the house is the width of one parking space. Recently, a walled garden was added, taking the width of an adjacent car park. 

The Scallop, this iconic image of the Suffolk Coast arrived on Aldeburgh beach in 2003, courtesy of local artist, Maggi Hambling. The sculpture was set up to commemorate Benjamin Britten and displays a quote from Britten’s Peter Grimes ‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’. 

Hambling, who was brought up in Hadleigh, Suffolk, first studied at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing 1962-4 and then at the Ipswich School of Art before moving to London where she would soon achieve worldwide acclaim. 

The quote from Britten’s Peter Grimes ‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’. 

Yes, it can be windy on the beach! 

Moot Hall, the well known, timbered frame building near Aldeburgh seafront. It was built sometime during the early 16th century as a Council Chamber and Market Cross. Later, it was named Moot Hall, and the tall chimneys were added. 

Originally, it opened on to the town market - the arcade of four arches on the ground floor were filled in with brick by the Victorians, but would have originally been open, with space for market stalls beneath, as well as a pair of prison cells! When the infamous Witch finder General, Matthew Hopkins, was hired by the burgesses of Aldeburgh to search the town in 1646, six local women were found guilty and held in the cells at the hall until they ‘confessed’ to their crimes. They were hanged on specially constructed gallows. The houses between the marketplace and the shore have long since been swept into the sea.Today, Moot Hall is home to Aldeburgh Museum. 

The Church of St Peter and St Paul, Aldeburgh. 

There was a church here at the time of the Domesday Book, but the current church of St Peter and St Paul is largely an early 16th-century building, with an earlier 14th-century tower. There may have been an even earlier Saxon church at Aldeburgh, but if so, only limited traces of that building now remains in the altered roof line of the current church. 

As mentioned, the tower is the oldest part of the church, and it is such a notable local landmark hat it was used for many years by mariners to pilot their ships. 

Internally, the oldest feature of the church is the font, which dates to around 1320. You can see that several of the carved panels have been defaced; this destruction took place in 1643 when a local man named Thomas Johnson aided the famed iconoclast William Dowsing in destroying '20 cherubim and 38 pictures' as well as taking a sword to the carvings on the font. 

Johnson is buried in the floor before the altar - a strange honour perhaps, for a man who destroyed much historic architecture at Aldeburgh, but such was life during the Reformation! 

Before Johnson and Dowsing were active, the church was the scene of a much happier event. In 1573 a group of travelling actors gave a performance here. The troupe was known as the Earl of Leicester's Men, and they would later count among their number a certain young actor and playwright called William Shakespeare 

The south porch adjoins the pavement, and has arches in its east and west walls to allow processions to pass within the precincts of the graveyard. This was built by the Holy Trinity gild, right on the eve of the Reformation. 

The very well-preserved oaken parish chest 

The Benjamin Britten memorial window 

It is by the artist John Piper, in stained glass, and shows images from three of his church parables: The Prodigal Son, Curlew River, and The Burning Fiery Furnace. It sits in the north aisle, and gets enough light to fill the aisle with colour.

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