Sudbury was incorporated at an early period, and was anciently denominated
South-burgh, in contradistinction to Norwich, then called North-burgh. It was
one of the first places at which Edward III. settled the Flemings, whom he
invited to this country, to instruct his subjects to manufacture their own wool.
Various branches of the woollen manufacture continued to flourish here for some
centuries, and afforded subsistence to a great number of the inhabitants, but
they declined many years ago, except that of bunting, for ships’ flags, of which
here are still four manufacturers. Here are also four large establishments
employing a considerable number of hands in the manufacture of silk, velvet,
satin, &c. This trade was introduced here in the early part of the present
century, by the London mercers, on account of dearness of labour in
Spitalfields. In 1838, there were about 600 silk looms in the town and
neighbourhood, but half of them were Out of employment, in consequence of the
general depression in that year. The Stour was made navigable to Sudbury in
1706, by a body of commissioners, who levy tolls for the support and improvement
of the navigation. Here is a commodious quay, where a number of barges are
employed in the transit of corn, malt, coals, &c. The Town has two highly
respectable banking houses, several corn mills, and a number of malt kilns. It
is neat, clean, and well-built, and is lighted, paved, and watched, under the
powers of a local act, obtained a few years ago for its improvement. The
Gas-works were erected in 1836, at the cost of £5000, raised in £20 shares. The
Market, formerly held on Saturday, is now held on Thursday, and is an extensive
mart for corn, sold by sample. The Corn Exchange, on the Market hill, is an
elegant and convenient building, which was erected in 1840, for £1620, but the
builder is said to have lost several hundred pounds by the contract. Three fairs
are held here on March 12th, July 10 th, and Sept. 4th.
The three Parish Churches of Sudbury are spacious and handsome structures. All
Saints’ has a tower and six bells, and is a vicarage, valued in K.B. at £4.11s.
5|d., and in 1835, at £123. J. Sperling, Esq., is patron and impropriator, and
the Rev. T. W. Fowke incumbent. The trustees of the late Rev. C. Simeon have
purchased the next presentation. All Saints' Parish had 1262 inhabitants in
1841, exclusive of the chapelry and township of Ballingdon-cum- Brundon, which
was formerly a separate parish, and lies on the opposite side of the Stour, in
Essex, as noticed at page 571. The church, which stood at Brundon, went to decay
many years ago, and the sinecure rectory is in the impropriation of Admiral
Wyndham, who allows the vicar of All Saints’ a yearly stipend of £13. 6s. 8d.,
in consideration of which, the inhabitants here have the use of that church. St.
Gregory’s and St. Peter’s, the former having eight, and the latter six bells,
are united perpetual curacies, valued, in 1835, at £160, and now enjoyed by the
Rev. Henry Watts Wilkinson. Sir Lachlan Maclean, Kt., is patron, and has a
considerable estate in the two parishes. He has long been a distinguished
physician here, and was knighted in 1812. Here are two Independent Chapels, one
built in 1830, and the other erected in 1822, in lieu of the old Presbyterian
Meeting-house, which was built about 1710, by a congregation formed in 16G2. The
latter has an endowment for the minister and the support of a school. Here is
also an old Friends' Meeting-house, and a Baptist Chapel, erected in 1834.
Simon De Sudbury, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1375, was a native of this
town, and was beheaded by the populace in Wat Tyler’s insurrection. His family
name was Theobald. lie built one end of St. Gregory’s church, and on the spot
where his father's house stood, he founded and endowed a College for six secular
priests, dedicated to St. Gregory, and valued at the dissolution at £122 per
annum. The same prelate, in conjunction with John de Chertsey, is said by Leland
to have founded an Augustine Priory here, but Weever ascribes it to Baldwin de
Shimpling and Mabel, his wife, who were both interred in the priory church. This
priory was valued, at the dissolution, at £222.18s. 3d. per annum. The last
remains of it were pulled down in 1821. In the reign of King John, Amicia,
Countess of Clare, founded an Hospital here, dedicated to Christ and the Virgin
Mary; and here was a Lepers' Hospital, dedicated to St. Leonard. A chapel,
dedicated to St. Bartholomew, was built near the former hospital, by Wulfric,
master of the mint to King Henry II., and given to the abbot and convent of
Westminster, who founded near it a subordinate priory of Benedictine monks. This
priory was pulled down in 1779» and its site belongs to the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster, as noticed at page 571. Thos. Gainsborough, one of the most eminent
English painters of the 18th century, was born here in 1727, and at a very early
age, manifested a remarkable propensity for the art in which he was destined so
highly to excel. He fixed his residence in London in 1774, after residing some
years at Ipswich and Bath, and was soon afterwards patronized by George III., of
whom, as well as of many other members of the royal family, he painted excellent
portraits. He died in 1788, and was buried at Kew. His brother, a dissenting
minister at Henley- upon-Thames, possessed as strong a genius for mechanics as
he had for painting, and one of his sun-dials, of ingenious contrivance, is now
in the British Museum. Wm. Enfield, L.L.D., an eminent Unitarian minister, was
born at Sudbury in 1741. He was for some years tutor and lecturer at Warrington
Academy, and compiled many useful books, one of which is the “Speaker,” composed
of pieces for recitation, from the best English authors. He published in quarto,
“Institutes of Natural Philosophy,” and undertook the arduous task of abridging
Buckler's History of Philosophy, which appeared in 1791, in two volumes quarto.
He died in 1797, at Norwich, where he had been twelve years minister of the
Octagon chapel, in that city. The numerous list of subscribers to his posthumous
Sermons, in 3 vols. 8vo., attest the general estimation in which his writings
were held. Sudbury has a Dispensary, and other institutions, supported by
subscription; several school endowments, and many Charitable Bequests, for the
relief of the poor.
GRAMMAR School.—In. 1491, Wm. Wood, master or warden of tie College of Sudbury,
bequeathed a messuage and croft, and the enclosures adjacent, in the lane
leading from the house of the Friars Preachers to the church of St. Gregory, to
sixteen feoffees, in trust that the warden of the said college, and his
successors, should hire and place in the said messuage a good and honest man to
teach grammar, and daily teach boys and others resorting to him for instruction.
On the dissolution of the religious houses, the possessions of Sudbury College
became vested in the Crown, and Henry VIII., by letters patent, in the 36th year
of his reign, in consideration of £1280, granted to Sir Thos. Paxton, Kt., and
his heirs and assigns, the house and possessions of the said college, and the
rectories of St. Gregory and St. Peter. Since the date of these letters patent,
the successive appropriators of the said rectories have appointed the master of
the Grammar School who has usually been perpetual curate of the parish of St.
Gregory. The school property derived under William Wood’s will, consists of a
dwelling-house, school, garden, and 1|a. of pasture ground. In addition to this
property, the . late Rev. W. Finley, who died in 1817, and his predecessors, the
masters of the school as far as can be traced, received the rents of a farm of
95 acres, at Maple- stead, in Essex, now worth £90 a year; but some doubt as to
the actual right of the masters of the school to this farm, has been raised
since that period, in consequence of there being no means of discovering how
such right originated; and also because the farm is not specifically described
in the conveyance deeds of the rectory, etc., as part of the school property,
though it is enumerated in the parcels of property, etc., immediately after that
clause which gives the right 01 appointing the master of the free school to the
impropriate rector. Sir Lachlan Maclean, M.D.)., the present lay rector, and
consequently patron of the school, did not appoint a master to the school, after
the death of Air. Finley, in 1817, till 1827, When he nominated his son, then a
minor, and at college. Since 1817, Sir L. Maclean has retained the rents of the
farm at Maplestead, but has expended about £700 in rebuilding the master's
house, and enclosing the school-ground, and has allowed the premises to be
occupied at a small rent, by a person whom he required to teach six free
scholars. The Commissioners, after enquiring into the state of this school, in
1828, recommended the aid and directions of a Court of Equity for establishing
or determining "its right to the farm at Maplestead, which is still the subject
of a suit in Chancery.
National and Charity Schools, in North Street. —In 1724, Susan Girling devised
to five trustees her messuages, lands, and hereditaments, in Hitcham and
Wattisham, and her share in a real estate at Preston, on trust, to apply the
rents and profits in teaching and instructing poor children of Sudbury, such as
the trustees should think fit. The property described as being at Hitcham and
Wattisham consists of a house, barn, and 10a. 3r. 29p. of land, in the parishes
of Hitcham and Brettenham, and is now worth about 201. a year. The real estate
at Preston was given up for land at Pentlow, in Essex, let for '7l.. a- year. In
1747, a subscription was entered into for building a school, and extending Mrs.
Girling’s charity; and the money raised was laid out in the purchase of premises
in North street, which are vested in trust with the perpetual curate of St.
Peter's; as to part thereof, for the use of a master and mistress, to be
appointed by Girling’s trustees, for teaching poor boys and girls; and the other
parts to be let, and the rents applied for placing out two or three boys, from
the school, apprentices to trades in any place except Sudbury. The premises have
been partly rebuilt, and comprise a house tot the master, and a large
school-room and garden; a house for the mistress, and a school-room for girls;
and three tenements, with a quarter of an acre of land, let for 137. a-year. In
1775, the Ren. Wm. Maleham left 50l. to these schools, and it was laid out in
the purchase of 607. Is. 2d. three per cent, consols. Both schools are now
conducted on the national system, and they are attended by about. 150 hoys and
50 girls. Here is also an Infant School, supported by subscription.
Charity Schools, &c., in All Saints. .—In 1722, John Fenn left a house in All
Saints, and two acres of land in Friar’s Meadow, in trust, to apply 4l 10s.
yearly in schooling poor children of Sudbury, and to pay the residue of the
rents to the minister of the Presbyterian Chapel, towards his maintenance. In
1738, Thos. Gainsborough left a sufficient sum of money to be laid out for
paying 10l. a-year to the Presbyterian or Independent minister of Sudbury;
2l.10s. a year for supporting the charity school there; and 20s. a-year for the
trustees. An estate was purchased at Westley field, near Bury St. Edmund’s, for
the benefit of the minister, subject to the two last named annuities. The
schoolmistress receives 8l. per annum from the two charities, tor which she
teaches ten poor children to read. In 1719, John Littel conveyed to six trustees
a house, stable, and garden, in Sepulchre street, in trust, to apply the rents
in schooling three poor children of All Saints parish, and three of Ballingdon
hamlet. The premises are let for 10l. a year, out of which the trustees pay 9l.
to a schoolmaster, for teaching 12 poor children to read. In 1790, the Rev.
Henry Crossman left the dividends of 390l. three per cent, stock towards the
support of three Sunday Schools, at Sudbury, Little Cornard and Little Bromley ;
5s. to be expended yearly out of the share of each school, in the purchase of
the testator’s Explanation of the Catechism. In 1712, John Jessup left a yearly
rent-charge of 20s. out of the Bear public-house, to be distributed one year in
Bibles and Common Prayer Books, and another year in the “Whole Duty of Man”
among the poor of Sudbury, attending the church.
St. Leonard’s Hospital was founded by John Colneys, in the reign of Edward III.;
and certain statutes were made for its regulation, in 1372, by the Bishop of
Norwich, with the consent of the founder, whereby it was provided that it should
consist of three infirm or leprous persons, —viz., a master and two fellows,
—and that the mayor of Sudbury, and the spiritual father of the church of St.
Gregory should be visitors. The estates of the hospital were vested in feoffees
in the 24th of Henry TIB but no subsequent feoffment can be found. The hospital
is situated near the town, on the road to Long Melford, and contains three
separate dwellings, with a garden adjoining. The only endowment consists of
nearly five acres of land, in two fields, near the hospital. For a long period
before and after 1813, the vacancies in the hospital were not filled up, and
the charity was grossly-abused. In 1822, there being only one person living in
the hospital, (a man named Rayner,) and he being driven to apply for parochial
relief, the governors and guardians of the poor of Sudbury (who are a body
corporate, created by an act of the reign of Anne) prevailed on him and the
tenant of the land to execute a deed of feoffment, conveying the hospital and
land to them, and they have since let the hospital in tenements to poor persons,
at low rents, which, with the rent of the land, they have applied with the poor
rate. The income which they derive from the hospital and land is about 18l. per
annum.
Charities. In 1662, Richard Firman left 4a. of land at Windmill hill, to the mayor and
aldermen, in trust, to divide the rents yearly as follows: one moiety among the
poor of St. Peter’s, and the other among the poor of All Saints and St. Gregorys
parishes. The land is let for 8/. per annum. In 1620, Martin Cole bequeathed out
of Sbemford Mills, in Henny, and two meadows in Lamarsh, in Essex, a yearly
rent-charge of 14/. to certain trustees, upon trust, to pay 10l for linen cloth,
and 1l for making it into shirts and smocks, to be distributed, on the Monday
after Ascension day, among the poor of the three parishes of Sudbury—one-half to
those of St. Peter’s; 6s. 8d. each to the ministers of St. Peter’s and All
Saints, for sermons; 6s. 8d. for the town clerk ; and 2l. to be spent in a
love-feast, by the two ministers aud the corporation, in remembrance of the
testator. In 1668, Nathaniel King bequeathed to the corporation the George Inn,
in Sudbury, in trust, to pay yearly out of the rent thereof, 50s., to be
distributed in 6d. loaves to the poor men and women receiving shirts and shifts
from Cole’s charity ; 2s. to be spent in wine at. the love-feast; and the
remainder of the rent to be laid out in coats of grey cloth, to be distributed
by the churchwardens and overseers of St. Peter’s, among the poorest aged men of
that parish.
The inn is now let for 32l. a year, op a 21years’ lease, which will expire in
1847- Thomas Carter, in 1796, charged his houses and lands, at Pebmarsh,
Gestingthorpe, and Little Maplestead, in Essex with the yearly payment of
60/., to provide 50 coats and 50 cloaks for 50 poor men and 50 poor women of
Sudbury, on St. Thomas’s day ; 10s. for a sermon at St. Gregory’s church ; and
20s. for a love-feast for the minister and trustees, on the day of distribution.
The estate charged is now the property of Mr. Carter, of Lowestoft. In 1718,
Roger Scarlin charged his house and land, at Boxford, with the yearly sum of
10/., to be distributed in stockings and shoes amoug the poor people receiving
Carter’s charity. _ In 1724, Susan Girling devised to five trustees her
tenements and gardens in Sudbury, and an acre of land in Friar’s meadow, upon
trust to provide yearly 50 shirts and 50 shifts, of hempen cloth, for the poor
people partaking of Carter’s charity; and to allow 10s. yearly for a dinner for
the trustees, on the dav of distribution. The tenements having fallen into
decay, were let with the land in 1819, on a 31 years’ lease, to R. P. Witts, at
the yearly rent of 341., the lessee covenanting to expend 3501. on the premises,
which has been done. The funds of this charity being more than adequate for its
purposes, it has been recommended that the surplus (about 10/. a year)should be
applied in aid of the charity given for education by the same donor, as already
noticed. The recipients of Carter’s charity have also divided among them 4/. per
annum, given by the corporation, perhaps in lieu of several “ lost charities."
About 26s. per annum is distributed in each of the three parishes of Sudbury,
among the poor, from Carder’s Charity, (See Glemsford.) In 1718, John Cradock
bequeathed to the poor of the parishes of St. Gregory and St. Peter, the
interest of 100/., which, * with some interest thereon, was laid out in the
purchase of 200/. new four per cent, annuities. The dividends are distributed at
Cbrirtmas, by the incumbent of St. Gregory’s and other trustees. A yearly
rent-charge of 71. 16s., left by an unknown donor, out of Outfield near Boxford, is
applied in a weekly distribution of Is. worth of bread in each of the three
parishes. The following yearly rent- charges are distributed in doles of bread
by the mayor and corporation, on Ascension days viz., 16s., left by Wni.
in 1564, out of a house adjoining the
Rose and Crown; 30s. left by Robert Paternoster, in 1591, out of a farm at Pentlow; 20s. left by Henry Pilgrome, in 1592, out of the site of a house adjoining
the White Horse; and 20s. left by Thos. Jervis, in 1631, out of a timber yard,
belonging to Mr. Hawkins. At the same time, 6s. 8d. in money is distributed in
each parish from an annuity of twenty shillings charged by an unknown donor on
five houses in St. Peter’s parish. Several charities, left to Sudbury by persons
named Polley, Andrews, Crowe, and Newman, are lost; and nothing has been
received for many years from the charity of John Hunwick, who, in 1593, gave
300/. to the corporation of Colchester, to the intent that they should pay
certain annual sums for charitable purposes at Colchester, Malden, and Ipswich,
and also 10/. once every five years to the Mayor of Sudbury, for the poor there.
Among the provident institutions of Sudbury are several Friendly Societies and a
Savings Bank. The latter was established in 1822, and had deposits amounting, in
1842, to 20,979/., belonging to 611 individuals, 19 charitable societies, and 30
friendly societies. It is open every Tuesday, from eleven to one c’clock, and
Mr. B. Pratt iudhe actuary. Here Is a Mechanics Institution, established in
1834, and now having a Museum, commenced in 1841.
Those marked
and the others in Sepulchre st., or where specified.
BANKERS.
FIRE AND LIFE OFFICES.
INNS AND TAVERNS.
Academies.
( + take Boarders.)
Attorneys.
Auctioneers.
Bakers, &c.
Basket Makers.
Beer Houses.
Blacksmiths.
Booksellers, Printers, &c.
Boot & Shoe Mkrs.
Braziers & Tnrs
Bricklayers.
Butchers
Cabinet Makers.
Chemists & Drgs.
Coal Merchants.
Confectioners.
Coopers.
Com Dealers.
Corn Millers.
FARMERS.
Fruiterers & Fishmongers.
Furniture Brks.
Gardeners.
Glovers.
Grocers.
Hatters.
Ironmongers.
Joiners.
Linen & Woollen Drapers.
Maltsters.
Milliners, &c.
Painters, Plumbers, & Glaziers.
Pawnbroker.
Perfumers and Hair Dressers.
Saddlers, &c.
Shopkeepers.
SILK MANFRS.
Silversmiths
Stone Masons.
Straw Hat Mkrs.
Surgeons.
Tailors & Drprs.
Turners in Wood.
Watch and Clock Makers.
Wheelwrights.
Wine and Spirit Merchants.
COACHES.
CARRIERS.