My Adventures 3: Sudbury

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On Thursday the 10th of March 2022, I drove to Nethergate Brewery in Long Melford Suffolk and parked up in the car park. I had messaged them the day before asking if I could park there as I would be using the taproom and shop afterwards and they were fine with this.

We leave the Brewery and walk up the B1064 Sudbury Road towards Long Melford.

Along the Sudbury Road we pass the Old Maltings House in Long Melford now apartments as most old buildings are !

Truman's Brewery Maltings 1920

Just past the Malt House and set back a bit is the old Railway Station now a residential property.

The Old Station

Long Melford railway station is a disused station that served the village of Long Melford in Suffolk, England. It opened in 1865 as "Melford" and was renamed "Long Melford" in 1884. The station was on the Stour Valley Railway between Sudbury and Cambridge, operated by the Eastern Counties Railway, as well as a branch line between Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds. Services over the latter route ended in 1961 and the station and Stour Valley line closed in 1967 as part of the Beeching cuts. The station building is now a private residence.

A proposal to extend services by building a light railway between Long Melford and Hadleigh was reported in the Haverhill Echo on 10 March 1900, but was never built.

Just up the road we now follow the disused railway line, called the Melford Walk.

We then have to cross a ford that held a lot of water, thankfully due to a build up of mud this formed an island so we could cross with dry feet.

We walk on across a field and then across the busy A134 and onto the path opposite.

We walk out onto a quiet lane that leads to Newmans Green before taking another track up on our right.

We follow the path down into a sunken path heading towards Sudbury.

After crossing the road we follow a path between the road and the back of houses before coming out onto and up Clermont Avenue up to see the Priory.

Unfortunately it would seem you cant get to visit the Priory, it appears to be on private land.

The Dominican Priory of Sudbury or Sudbury Priory, was a medieval priory of the Dominican Order, also known as the Order of Friar Preachers or "Black Friars", in the town of Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The community was dispersed and the buildings demolished during the English Reformation in the 16th century. The materials were used to construct a large house on the same site, which survived into the 19th century.

We walk back along Clermont Avenue and take a footpath that takes us along some residential roads and out onto Melford Road that we follow up into town.

View to St Gregory's Church, Sudbury.

We walk along North Street until we reach the market next to St Peters on Market Hill.

St Peter's Church, Sudbury is a former Anglican church in the town of Sudbury, which now serves as a cultural venue. The building is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The building stands in the heart of the town in a dominating position on Market Hill.

A church has been on the site since at least 1180, but the current structure dates from the 15th century, though there have been several restorations in the intervening period.

Sudbury was an Anglo-Saxon settlement from the end of the 8th century, and its market was established in the early 11th century. Its textile industries prospered in the Late Middle Ages, the wealth of which funded many of its buildings and churches. The town became notable for its art in the 18th century, being the birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough, whose landscapes offered inspiration to John Constable, another Suffolk painter of the surrounding Stour Valley area. The 19th century saw the arrival of the railway with the opening of a station on the historic Stour Valley Railway, and Sudbury railway station forms the current terminus of the Gainsborough Line. In World War II, US Army Airforce bombers operated from RAF Sudbury.

Today, Sudbury retains its status as a market town with a twice-weekly market in the town centre in front of St Peter's Church, which is now a local community point for events such as concerts and exhibitions.

In front of St Peters is the Statue of Thomas Gainsborough , who was born here in Sudbury.

Mike and I stop to buy some craft beer from a knowledgeable man on a beer stall and a some Mature cheddar with hops.

Thomas Gainsborough was officially commemorated as Sudbury’s most famous native son in 1913 with the unveiling of the artist’s monumental 8' 6" bronze statue on Market Hill. Designed by Bertram Mackennal and presented by HRH Princess Louise, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, in Sudbury on 10th June, Gainsborough is depicted as an artist, palette in hand, standing on a base of Portland stone. A bronze relief below shows a woman playing a violin, an allusion to Gainsborough’s own love of music. Standing in the shadow of St Peter’s Church, the statue gazes down towards the artist’s birthplace and Gainsborough’s House museum.

Sudbury was one of the first towns in which Edward III settled the Flemings, allowing the weaving and silk industries to prosper for centuries during the Late Middle Ages. As the main town in the area, Sudbury prospered too, and many great houses and churches were built, giving the town a major historical legacy. The Woolsack in the House of Lords was originally stuffed with wool from the Sudbury area, a sign of both the importance of the wool industry and of the wealth of the donors.

We walk on passing the Lady Elizabeth Pub.

Market Hill, the heart of the town, owes its existence to a 14th century woman of nearby Clare. She was a widow and ‘lord’ of Sudbury. In Lady Elizabeth de Burgh’s time, Anglo-Saxon Sudbury was an interweaving web of narrow streets, until she invested in an ambitious extension to the east that is now Sudbury’s main trading centre.

The open space in front of the church was used by the market stalls. The timber frames within modern shop fronts, and some surviving long, narrow plots are remnants of this 14th century layout which we can still see today.

We leave Market Hill and onto King Street.

We pass Salters Hall on Stour Street.

Salter’s Hall, dating to around 1450, is the highest quality timber-frame structure in Sudbury and may have belonged to a local merchant or clothier. Standing near the Chantry on Stour Street, this impressive structure reflect the wealth of East Anglia’s wool towns in medieval times. Salter’s Hall features original wooden tracery on the windows, with a carved soffit (or underside) beneath the oriel window showing St James the Less, patron saint of fullers, between an elephant and a lion.

We reach the Millhouse Mill Hotel and the water meadows.

This charming accommodation is a Grade II* 500-year-old medieval townhouse. It is only five minutes’ walk from the centre of town with beautiful views of the River Stour and the water meadows.

Thomas Gainsborough much preferred painting landscapes to more lucrative genres such as portraiture. His love of the countryside was first discovered in the woods and fields surrounding Sudbury, where he spent time in the Water Meadows, an area of natural beauty first recorded in Sudbury chronicles around 1260 AD. Several members of Gainsborough’s family were Freemen of the Commons, giving them the right to graze cattle and horses on these pastures. What’s There? Over 100 acres in size, Sudbury’s Water Meadows are accessible via walks for all ages. Meander along the River Stour on the 3.5-mile Meadow Walk, and observe a rich vista of flowers, insects, birds and cattle.

We follow the River Stour alongside the Water meadows.

We walk on through to Brundon and pass Brundon Hall with its driveway dressed with daffodils and snowdrops a welcome sight after a long Winter.

The 18th century hall, close to Sudbury, has hidden a haunting secret since 1785, when two young boys saw a ghostly lady dressed in blue satin close to the grand staircase. When she reached a blue stone slab on the floor close to the stairs, the spectral figure stamped her foot on it three times before vanishing through a nearby doorway. Years later, new owners at Brundon Hall began to renovate the building and when they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found the infamous slab which the ghost had stamped on.

Beneath it, they found an underground vault - and there, underneath the feet of everyone who had been living in the hall, was a shocking scene.

There, guarding a glittering pile of gold coins, were two skeletons, one with a gold bracelet around its bony wrist, the other with gold spurs near its feet. Beside them was a goblet which, it is said, bore the residue of dried blood. And there were more terrible discoveries: in a hole in the vault’s wall, a collection of children’s skulls and bones were found.

Now we are at the 15th century Brundon Water Mill, a beautiful building in front of the mill pool full of swans.

Watermill commonly called Brundon Mill' now converted to a dwelling.

In 1406-7 Brundon Mill is described in a Latin account of the Manor of `Brundon cum Molendino' as a Fulling Mill "Molend' Fullon'"

We walk on following the Valley Walk.

The first lambs I've seen this Spring,

We cross the road by Rods Bridge.

We cross an old railway bridge over the River Stour looking across to Rods Bridge.

Tree eating a sign!

After a while we are back at the Brewery for a well earned pint!

Nethergate Brewery, brewing commenced in 2004 after the move from Clare in Suffolk. In 2012 it changed its name to Growler Brewery before changing back to Nethergate. In 2017, it moved to a new brewhouse, shop and bar at Long Melford.