The Foxearth and District Local History Society

Sudbury Pictures

A collection of old postcards of past Sudbury

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  12. Long Melford postcards and photographs
  13. Clare postcards and photographs

To get pictures of a size suitable for printing or close inspection click on the picture or the accompanying text. Please remember that we are very much on the lookout for pictures of old Sudbury in order to make a comprehensive collection here.
The photographs themselves are scanned in sufficient quality to provide an A4 photograph is a quality that is almost indistinguishable from the original

A Carin and the Perseverence Stores, in Gainsborough Street
All Saints Church, Sudbury: the view from the Stour
B H Purr's cycle shop at the head of North Street at no. 35 and 36. It also sold motor bikes and was later a Ford dealer. Budgen's, and later Argos occupied the site.
Angelo Smiths Shop. They are still trading. Next door was Alstons shop, which had a lift
Arthur Raven's shop, next to the Rose and Crown, and eventually taken over by C F Winch
Ballingdon Hall, before its move up the hill
Sudbury Bathing place, a pool fed from the Stour.
A summer boating scene on the Stour
A busy day at Brundon Mill on the River Stour. The mill was then run by Thomas Good, and had a roller mill, unlike the mills upstream who still used stones.
Bruno's Cake shop was on the south side of the market hill at no. 28. Bruno's were caterers. It later became Andrews Tea Shop. The building is still there, but no longer with the charming shop-front.
The Collegiate School, in Gainsborough's Street
The Corn Exchange, with the imposing Barclays Bank building next door, built in 1879. Beyond was originally the entrance to Sudbury's first theatre.
The Croft bridge over the headrace.
This is the sad remains of Sudbury's first station, demoted to be a goods shed and eventually demolished, in part of what is now Roys.
Friars Street, Showing Mattingleys Mans Shop, which had an imposing shop window in three parts that you walked through to get to the shop entrance behind. It was originally a late georgian villa that acquired an extra storey before becoming a shop. On the left is the entrance to the Sudbury Institute, originally the town's first theatre
Gainsborough's house. At the time, it was a hotel and restaurant.
Ives shop was at no. 3 and 4 Kings Street.
HS Adams were a wine merchants at the head of Kings street at no. 2
Jacob Jay was a decorator, plumber and sanitary engineer with a shop in 50 Station road was later taken over by Grimwoods and is now the Art Shop
A view of King Street taken from the tower of St Peter's Church. The police station is the splendid neo-Tudor building at the end
Sudbury's first department store, Andrews Bazaar, was in the splendid building between Friars street and Gainsborough's street. They had a cabinet Makers shop and supplied anything for the house, as well as doing removals and warehousing. It was actually two buildings, and the right hand side was demolished to make the rather incongruous stone building of the Midland Bank in 1913
A view of Gainsborough street, through the market to St Peters
An accurate drawing of the north side of the Market Hill around 1760
A view of the fire on the north side of the Market Hill
A view towards the west of the Market Hill after Andrews Bazaar had been demolished to make way for the stone Bank building.
Mattingly, recently destroyed by fire, was an eighteenth century house given an extra storey in victorian times, before becoming a shop.
Mauldon and Son at the White Horse Brewery in Ballingdon were a well known brewery from 1796 that had their offices next to the White Horse pub.
A splendid avenue of houses built by Grimwood in the Melford Road.
A view of North Street, showing the famous penny-farthing outside Twitchett's cycle shop.
Portway and Co, in 32 Kings Street, had an ironmongery shop.
The Recreation Ground off Friars Street.
RL Ruse's butchers shop at no. 11 Kings Street.
The grand façade of the Rose and Crown hotel
The yard of the rose and crown, where it was once fashionable to dine out under the great glass roof.
RS Joys, of 29 Market hill was a drapers shop. They had a furnishing warehouse at 11 Market Hill, with a factory in Town Hall (Gaol) lane.
C M Shepard, Tailor, Hatter and Hosier, was based in the north row of the Market Hill.
Late 60s expansion in Snell's Garage on Ballingdon Hill in 1948
Snells Garage gets a facelift in the Sixties to take on selling Rootes Group cars
Sudbury High School Gym
Sudbury's original Town Hall, demolished to clear the market square sufficiently for the increasingly popular markets.
Wormingford Decoy
The Norwich Union Fire office, and Charles J Simpson, general Ironmonger, occupied no. 2 on the Old Market Place.
W Chandler was at no. 18 in the Market Hill, a Jeweller, watchmaker, engraver and optician. They had one half of a grand facade, shared with a newsagent and bookbinder.
G. G. Whorlows were, with P H Jordan, the main hauliers in the town. They were Coal and Lime merchants and also did furniture removals
C F Winch's shop was next to the Rose and Crown on the south side of the market hill. It was destroyed when the hotel burned down
he Rose and Crown Coaching Inn. The Market Hill was originally laid out to make the most of the coach traffic and Sudbury became the obvious place to break the journey. When it burned down it destroyed Winch's shop next to it. A cinema was built on the site
W J Backlers were bootmakers and outfitters that were based in Gainsborough's Street next to the Perseverance Stores
York Road was another speculative building project by Grimwood, the builders.
Ballingdon Street from the late 1950s, Showing the Strawberry Stores, the White Horse pub and Brewery offices
Sudbury's first station, a terminus, was replaced by a new and larger station when the line was extended to Bury and Cambridge. The first station lived on as a goods building. Sadly it was demolished to create the space for Roys supermarket.
Cornard Church, from the Stour.
All Saints Church , view from Friars Street
Clover's Mill, which eventually became a hotel.
Ballingdon Bridge. The Essex and Suffolk sides were built independently, hence the strange shape.
A Baker's shop came to Manchester House, Sudbury in 1850. They were a clothes shop who also did funeral furnishing.
Ballingdon bridge, the old concrete bridge, taken during a flood
The construction of 'Bijou Villas' by Grimwade in their 'Priory Estate' on Melford Road.
Brundon Mill, and the bridge
Delivery of beer to Market Hill
Clovers Mill, viewed from the tailrace.
The old wooden Ballingdon Bridge. In a flood, rubbish would get caught in the supports and had to be freed with poles.
A Ives' Music shop at 'Haydn House', Sudbury, showing banjos and mandolins, but relying on the sale of upright Pianos.
Chantrys, and Salters Hall in Stour Street. Later on, Salters Hall became a school.
Wright's grocery shop became Kings and was run for two generations as a delicatessen shop by the Kisbe family.
The Four Swans was in North Street until recently, and was the last remaining great coaching inn. It incorporated the Red Lion Pub. It was destroyed by fire after being bought by developers.
A view of Gainsborough Street showing the old silk weavers tenements later taken over and demolished by Bloy's Garage in the 1950s.
An early photo of Gainsborough Street, before Bloys garage existed, and the nearest building on the right were silk weavers tenements
Sudbury's Grammar School
Henny Reach
Josiah Williams Painter, and Decorator, also was a picture framer and guilder had a shop in no. 8 Friar Street was adjacent to the chapel of the Quakers
A tinted postcard of King Street
Edward Keogh, followed by Fred Lindley ran a stonemasonry business in 37 North Street, not only for memorials and gravestones, but also the masonry work for the houses the Grimwood built throughout Sudbury. The business is now and undertakers, and the fine stone window remains.
This fine building in North Street was once a private house, before becoming Cheyney's shop. It was then Cutmore's dress shop and bookshop before the building was taken over and the façade became part of Woolworths.
A tinted version of the popular postcard showing the Corn Exchange and Friar Street
A fire in a carpet shop destroyed several fine old buildings next to the town hall
The Newton Road with the entrance to St Leonard's Hospital on the right. This was originally a lepers hospital founded in 1272, by John Colneys or Colness, its first governor or warden
A veteran's procession in North Street. The pub on the right was originally the French Horn
The Old Moot Hall in Cross street
A marathon race through the town, passing through Gainsborough street. The photo was taken from the window of Payne and Essex's photographers.
Rice's shoe shop was a long-lived enterprise at 10 Market Hill with a good reputation. They also had a boot shop at 4, Friars Street
Rice's Boot and Shoe shop in 4, Friars Street. They made their own boots as well as providing other brands, but their boots were very highly favoured by local farmers
The river Stour at Brundon. Brundon had been an Essex parish with its own church but now only the hall and mill remain.
The croft, showing the spillway and St Gregory's Church spire beyond.
R J Boyce, the furniture shop had a grand façade on the north side of the market hill. It became Head and Woodwards.
The interior of R S Joys drapery shop on the Market Hill at n.0 11
Salters Hall was built about 1450 as a guild hall, but later became a private house. It was recently a school and now is part of a housing estate.
The grand station that was built when the line was extended from Sudbury to Bury and Cambridge. Sudbury became an important stopping-place en route, and the waiting rooms were always well kept with warm fires lit in winter. There was a stationer's shop on the platform,
The railway, seen after the line through to Long Melford had recently closed. The Footbridge is now at the Chappel Steam Railway.
Snell's Garage in Ballingdon Hill in 1948
Snell's Garage in Ballingdon Hill in the late 1950s
Snell's Garage in Ballingdon Hill in the mid 50s
Snell's Garage in Ballingdon Hill in the mid 50s
Snell's Garage workshop in the mid 50s
the petrol pumps of Snell's Garage in Ballingdon Hill in
The Sudbury Steam Laundry, newly built at Queen's Road, Sudbury was run by J H and J W Bastow. It is still in existence, beyond Aldi's car park.
The interior of Sudbury Steam Laundry.
A fine picture of St Gregory's church. The huge chancel was rebuilt to house the members of the college that occupied what later became the hospital.
St Peters Church was built as the inhabitant's church at a time when St Gregorys Church was increasingly becoming the college church of Archbishop Simon's College. The photo shows the grand spire that was repaired in the sixties before being, to everyone's perplexity, removed.
Sudbury High School Classrooms, viewed from the gardens
Clover's Mill, also known as Sudbury Mill, when it was a working watermill.
Mullard's Radio Supply shop was next to the town hall. The building still exists though re-fronted. The three-wheeler bike seems to have been used for deliveries.
The spillway at the Croft. Note the cottage provided for the person who operated the spillway. Surprisingly, it existed for many years in that unlikely spot.
The meadows, showing Clover's mill in the distance.
A view of the Town Hall, talken when the corner between North Street and East Street was still a garden. This spot, next to Twitchett's, became a stopping place for Corona Coaches, and later was the shed for Sudbury's first cinema. Later, a card shop was built on the site.
A photo of troops being transported in one of P H Jordan's lorries. It is going past Backler's Clothes Shop in Gainsborough Street. This scene seems to date from WW1
Twitchett's shop, 98 North Street, with its penny-farthing bicycle sign, was one of the sights of Sudbury. They made their own 'Defiant' brand of bike, and also had a motor garage. Beatrix Potter used to stay with relatives at Long Melford Hall, and used the name for one of her books.
An early engraving of Clover's Mill. Mills were generally modest buildings until the late eighteenth century due to the repeal of the law that forbade them to store grain. This caused them to grow in size enormously.
In what is now the car park of Roy's supermarket was Sudbury's goodsyard, once a busy place with many sidings going directly into the Warehouses. There were several turntables in the ground used to manoeuvre the trucks