Sudbury

This was designed by Henry Kendall in 1841 and opened in 1842. The classical front has four Tuscan columns topped by wheat sheaves instead of urns. The redundant building was converted into a county library in 1968. Next door is Barclays Bank of 1879. Then comes the columned Sudbury Theatre of 1815, which remained the Norwich Fisher Company Theatre until 1848, when it became the Literary and Mechanics’ Institute; next door is Potter & Jessop’s chemist’s shop, later Wardmans. On the corner of Station Road is a three-storey block of Victorian shops. The gable beyond is Thurlows the draper’s in Friars Street.
An extract from from"Sudbury, Lavenham and Long Melford Photographic Memories".

The street takes its name from the priory of Dominican friars, founded in the 13th century. The tree marks the site of the now demolished Congregational church. Beyond the draper’s awning is the Quaker Meeting House and Buzzards, the home of Thomas Gainsborough’s uncle Thomas. Two of the artist’s daughters were born in the fourth house on the right in 1750 and 1751.
An extract from from"Suffolk - A Second Selection Photographic Memories".

The imposing 18th-century building on the right with the round-headed doorway has a twin nearly opposite. Next door (beyond the lamp bracket) is where two of Thomas Gainsborough’s daughters were born in 1750 and 1751. The awning belongs to Thurlows the draper’s, and next door is Woolby’s Berlin Wool Warehouse. Opposite, the trees stand front of the Congregational chapel. This side of the chapel is Lucy Berry the confectioner, advertising ‘Tea, Coffee and Refreshments’. The notice board in the foreground on the right is advertising the annual fete and firework display.
An extract from from"Sudbury, Lavenham and Long Melford Photographic Memories".

We are looking north from Old Market. On the right is the White Horse, run by George Rampling; next door is Boggis’s the drapers in the 18th-century building with dormer windows; then comes William Alston’s ‘Second Hand Furniture Warehouse’ and the Green Dragon run by Arthur Viall - these last two were replaced in the 1960s. The first-floor bay window just visible beyond is dated 1876 in mosaic, and beside it is the entrance to the North Street Schools. On the left is Angelo Smith’s Clockhouse, opened in 1886 and still trading, and, by way of contrast, the Albion Temperance Hotel.
An extract from from"Sudbury, Lavenham and Long Melford Photographic Memories".

The medieval leper hospital of St Leonard’s was in Melford Road, where Colneys Close is named after John Colneys, who founded the hospital in 1372. The hospital (for two inmates and a governor) survived the Reformation and continued as an almshouse until 1813. The endowment was used to support the new St Leonard’s Hospital, which was established in 1867 in Newton Road.
An extract from from"Sudbury, Lavenham and Long Melford Photographic Memories".