Sudbury

Sudbury (/ˈsʌdbəri/, locally /ˈsʌbəri/) is a market town and civil parish in the south west of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour near the Essex border, 60 miles (97 km) north-east of London. It is the largest town in the Babergh local government district and part of the South Suffolk constituency. In 2021, the built-up area had a population of 23,912 and the parish had a population of 13,619.

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 Air Forces bombers operated from RAF Sudbury.