Sudbury and the Woollen Cloth Industry

Sudbury and the Woollen Cloth Industry. . Sudbury is an ancient market town with a long history By the early 14th century it was one of only three towns in the county (with Bury and Ipswich to appear in a list of England's wealthiest towns. The woollen cloth industry was a major contributor to that wealth., It is not clear exactly when or why the cloth industry developed in the Stour Valley. The Domesday Book of 1086, recorded many sheep. The local streams and rivers would also have aided the fulling and dyeing processes. The wealthy and powerful abbey at Bury, along with other local monastic houses would certainly have contributed to demand originally. Closeness to the London markets and easy access to Europe also helped. However in the early Middle Ages much English wool was exported to the Continent and woven into high quality cloth superior to that made in England., In 14th century, to bolster the Industry, Edward III encouraged skilled Flemish weavers to settle in England. Their influence undoubtedly reached Sudbury and the surrounding villages: such as Boxford, Clare, Cavendish, Long Melford and Kersey. The quality of locally produced broadcloth and narrowcloth became renowned., The industry grew and flourished and by the 15th century had entered an unrivalled period of prosperity. Powerful clothiers took control of all the various processes involved in the making of woollen cloth. In Lavenham clothier Thomas Spring became so wealthy that his daughter married into the aristocratic family of the Earls of Oxford at Clare., The wealth accumulated by these clothiers was not just spent on dowries for their daughters. They built the fine timber-framed houses which are still evident in Boxford, Lavenham and to some degree in Sudbury. With an eye to the life hereafter, merchants also invested their profits into the lavish rebuilding of the churches in the Perpendicular style., The area produced an eclectic variety of cloth styles and colours including the famous Lavenham blues heavy broadcloth destined mainly for export and popular lighter-weight straits and kerseys., By the 1520s the woollen cloth industry was in decline, hit by religious conflicts on the Continent, Henry Vill's punitive taxation and by a change in demand towards lighter, finer fabrics. Villages whose economy was largely Produced by Sudbory Man dependent on the weaving trade were hard hit, but Sudbury as the area's market town had a more diverse mix of trades and was more resilient. Entrepreneurial spirit also ensured that spinning and weaving continued in the town with the manufacture of says, bays and bunting. By the end of the 18th century the silk industry had become well established, continuing the long tradition of textile manufacture in Sudbury., Many families in this part of the world owe their surnames to the crafts once practised in this trade - names such as Dyer, Fuller, Weaver, Sayer and Cardy still abound., We also have the 'Fullingpit Meadows' to the west of the town, where the woollen cloth was fulled in large pits.