Visit to Sudbury, Suffolk Tuesday 8 October 2024

As part of a coach holiday in Suffolk, we made a flying visit to Sudbury. I am pleased to say that a remarkable amount of new information was obtained in such a short visit.

We had visited nearby Braintree & Bocking with Chris' Canadian cousins Doug & Merle Bocking some years ago. Some, silk manufacturing had been moved from London to that area including Courtaulds.

We knew that there had been a silk industry in Sudbury as well but the visit gave us the opportunity to obtain more information in the short time available.

Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough is one of Sudbury's famous sons.

In Weavers Lane, we visited Gainsborough House, Thomas' birthplace, where there is a Museum, which is not surprisingly devoted to Thomas.

We didn't have time to go in the Museum and learnt afterwards from the Town Guide that there is a room in the Museum devoted to the Sudbury silk industry.

Next door to the Musum is a former weaver's pemises now a shop for the Museum.

Sudbury Information Centre

The receptionist at the Information Centre was extremely helpful. She said that there was a section on the silk industry in the Heritage Centre on the same site as the Information Centre but there was insufficent time to look at this.

She also provided copies of:

- a Town Guide 2024

- a Short History of the Silk Industry in and around Sudbury

- a leaflet, "A celebration of silk weaving" including reference to the Weavers' Piece, a nearby garden to which the receptionist guided us:

The leaflet explains that it is a Dye Garden, with examples of plants that were used to dye the silk after it was woven.

The information board directed us to an adjacent building to the garden, which was formerly used for silk manufacturing:

Another information board had information about the current silk manufacturers in the Town.

The Town Guide explains that Sudbury has long been an industrial town (for example making woollen cloth) with four working silk mills and 95% of all silk produced in the UK being made there.

Sudbury Suffolk Heritage

Before the visit I had googled the silk industry in Suffolk and obatined a link to a very helpful article by David Burnett:

Sudbury and Silk by David Burnett

It had brought my attention to good examples of previous weavers' cottages including Cross Street (below), but again time prevented further exploration:

The article clarified that the oldest silk manufactory in Sudbury was at 47 Gainsborough Street, next door to Gainsborough House (see below), which was previously occupied by weaver William Hill:

Colin Bower
31 January 2025

Project Index