SUDBURY  , a

market town and municipal borough of England, chiefly in the Sudbury parliamentary division of Suffolk, but partly in the Saffron Walden division of Essex . Pop . (1901), 7109 . It lies on the river Stour (which is navigable up to the town), 59 M . N.E. from London by the Great Eastern railway . All Saints' parish church, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and tower, is chiefly Perpendicular—the chancel being Decorated . It possesses a fine oaken pulpit of 1490 . The church was restored in 1882 . St Peter's is Perpendicular, with a finely carved nave roof . St Gregory's, once collegiate, is Perpendicular . It has a rich spire-shaped font-cover of wood, gilt and painted . The grammar school was founded by William Wood in 1491 .

There are some old

half-timbered houses, including one very fine example . The principal modern buildings are the town-hall, Victoria hall and St Leonard's hospital . Coco-nut matting is an important manufacture; silk manufactures were transferred from London during the 19th century, and horsehair weaving was established at the same time . There are also flour-mills, malt-kilns, lime-works, and brick and tile yards . The town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors . The borough lies wholly in the administrative county of West Suffolk . Area, 1925 acres . The ancient Saxon' borough of Sudbury (Sudbyrig, Sudberi, Suthberia) was the centre of the southern portion of the East Anglian kingdom . Before the Conquest it was a borough owned by the mother of Earl Morcar, from whom it was taken by William I., who held it in io86 . It was alienated from the Crown to an ancestor of Gilbert de Clare, 9th earl of Gloucester . In 1271 the earl gave the burgesses their first charter confirming to them all their ancient liberties and customs . The earl of March granted a charter to the mayor and bailiffs of Sudbury in 1397 .

In 1440 and again in 1445 the men and tenantsof Sudbury obtained a royal

confirmation of their privileges . They were incorporated in 1553 under the name of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of Sudbury, and charters were granted to the town by Elizabeth, Charles II. and James II . Its constitution was re-formed by the act of 1835 . It was represented in parliament by two burgesses from 1558 till its disfranchisement in 1844 . The lord of the borough had a market and fair in the 13th century,.and three fairs in March, July and December were held in 1792 . Markets still exist on Thursdays and Saturdays . Weavers were introduced by Edward III., and the town became the chief centre of the Suffolk cloth industry after the Restoration .