Background
The East Anglia Tourist Guide describes Hadleigh like this:
This busy market town in the valley of the River Brett is of special historical and architectural importance. At one time a Viking Royal Town, it later rose to become the 14th most prosperous town in the country through its wool trade during the 14th century and 15th century. The medieval heart of Hadleigh, St Mary's Church, the Deanery Tower and the Guildhall bears witness to its historical importance. Today the long High Street has a wide variety of shops offering personal and friendly service. Hadleigh offers free parking. Market days Friday and Saturday.
Hadleigh is Britain's 50th most historic town and is near to lots of other beautiful and historic places such as Lavenham, Dedham and Kersey.
How to talk Suffolk
I saw a notice on a board about a coicle roide,
Oi thought oi'll hev a goo at that
Thass suffin oi int troid
So oi went hoom an' oiled me boike
An oi got a form as well,
Oi picked a quid up 'ere 'n' theer,
From the folks oi hed ter tell,
So orf oi went on Satd'y morn
The sun was shoinin' broiht,
Oi met a decent crowd a folks,
An' oi troid with all me moight,
Theyput me name down on a board,
Oi thought wa'll thass o'roight
The day thet went boy whooly quick
But theer were churches oi coin't foind
Still oi come hoom wholly happy
But oi got a sore behoind.
J.R. King, Hadleigh
Hotels and Places to Stay
Edgehill Hotel, 2 High Street (01473) 822458
History of Hadleigh
In the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. bands of Angles and Frisians crossed the North Sea, sailed up the river estuaries and settled in this area. Local placenames, Hadleigh itself and the nearby -ey (Island), -ham (home), -sett (wood) and -ton (village) show that the Angles occupied the whole region. They were good farmers and began to clear the land.
But the Danes, Vikings or Northmen followed, first to plunder and then to settle. In 870 Guthrum's Great Army captured King Edmund of East Anglia after a battle at Hoxne, and slew him when he refused to renounce his Christian faith. The Danes moved on to Wessex, Alfred the Great defeated them, and Guthrum saved his life by becoming a Christian, and accepting baptism under the new name of Althelstan. The Danes agreed to settle in certain eastern counties, the 'Danelaw', and for a time peace returned. Guthrum's rule was personal. He moved about his kingdom from one 'royal town' to another. He was at Hadleigh when he died in 890, and then the name of the town was written down for the first time.
Rowland Taylor was Hadleigh's most famous rector. He was appointed by Archbishop Cranmer on 16th April 1544. He was a powerful preacher, a man of dominating personality, earthy humour and a shrewd brain. He and his wife had nine children. He at once devoted himself to his parishioners and directed the generosity of wealthy merchants to the relief of the poor.
Mary was proclaimed Queen on 19th July 1553, and exactly one week later Taylor was arrested. On 20th January 1555, Parliament revived the old statute for the burning of heretics. On 30th January he was condemned to death.
On 9th February Taylor was taken along Bridge Street and George Street, past the almshouses where he threw a glove containing his last money to an old blind couple, and thence to Aldham Common. Taylor kissed ths stake and stood in the pitchbarrel. The bystanders were unwilling to assist the sherrif to pile the faggots and kindle the fire. When the wood took light Taylor stood silent and unmoving. But he did not suffer long. A man named Soyce slew him by a blow on the head with a halberd, and his body fell into the fire.
Since the 16th Century an unhewn stone has marked the spot of his martyrdom on Aldham Common:
1555
D.TAYLOR.IN.DE
FENDING.THAT
WAS.GOOD.AT
THIS.PLAS.LEFT
HIS.BLODE
In 1638 Dr Cottesford became rector of Hadleigh. Strict puritans were enraged at his bowing before the altar and his teaching that baptism washes away original sin so they planned to tear down the altar rails after morning service on Christmas Day 1641. But the news leaked out and Dr. Cottesford came to church prepared. After the sermon, he came down from his pulpit in the usual way. But then he hastened inside inside the sanctuary, shut the door in the rails, and produced a knife from beneath his cassock. When the crowd pressed forward, Cottesford warned them that he would stab any hand that touched the rails, though he himself should die as a sacrifice at the altar.
Faced by such resolution the crowd withdrew and left him to celebrate Communion with those who stayed behind. But the next way they got into the church, pulled down the rails and canopy, and 'burnt them openly with great impudent solemnity and triumph'.
Later when Parliament order the printing of a report entitled The First Century of Scandalous and Malignant Priests Robert Cottesford's name stood at the head of the list from Suffolk. He was ejected from Hadleigh, practised medicine for a few years at Ipswich, and died in poverty.
Hadleigh church was given to Isaac Harrison of Sudbury, who was connected by marriage to two puritan aldermen of Hadleigh. The use of the Prayer Book, even in private, was forbidden, sermons lasted two hours or more, Communion was received standing, and men wore their hats in church. Marriage was made into a civil contract, before a justice of the peace. Wedding rings, like maypoles and mince pies, became illegal.
On 2nd February 1644 William Dowsing, Parliamentary Visitor under warrent from the Earl of Manchester for demolishing pictures and ornaments of churches in the county of Suffolk, arrived in Hadleigh. He wrote in his journal: 'we brake down 30 superstitious Pictures, and gave order for taking down the rest, which were about 70; and took up an inscription "quorum animabus propitietur Deus"; and gave order for the taking down a Cross on the Steeple'.
Outbursts of the plague in the 17th century were irregular - but more violent than before. In Elizabeth's reign, there were only two years when recorded burials in Hadleigh exceeded baptisms. But in the 17th century, there were 15 such years, with six epidemic periods, 1612-13, 1625-26, 1631-33, 1637-39, 1653 and 1665-68.
In 1636, John Raven M.D., escaping from the plague in London, brought it to Hadleigh and died in the room of his father's house where he had been born. Between 24th April and 31st July 1637, 197 deaths occurred. The chief inhabitants left Hadleigh. The unemployed roamed the town, and the Quarter Sessions levied a tax on the whole county for their relief, and drought made the harvest one of the poorest known.
But 1666 was worse, and 349 burials and only 56 baptisms. The Corporation used their reserve of planks and boards to erect three more pesthouses beside the Green, on the edge of the town, to isolate victims.
After the plague the houses were let. Some were sold in 1858 and the rest in the 20th century. So, though hastily constructed from salvaged materials, they must have been very well built.
Dates in Hadleigh's History
870 Danish conquest of Eastern England 878 Guthrum, defeated by Alfred the Great divided England with him, and made Hadleigh a 'royal town' 890 Death a burial of Guthrum at Hadleigh 991 Ealdorman Byrhtnoth bequeathed Hadleigh and Monks Eleigh to Canterbury 1066 Norman Conquest 1250 Building of first stone church and beginning of wool trade 1252 Grant of weekly market and yearly fair to Lord of Toppesfield 1349 The Black Death 1350 Building of the second stone church 1438 Market rights transferred to 15 trustees, the origin of Hadleigh Market Feoffment 1450 The church again rebuilt and enlarged
Transfer of the Guildhall to the Market Feoffment1495 Deanery tower built 1497 George Street almshouses endowed by William Pykenham 1547 Confiscation of treasures of church and guilds 1555 Benton Street almshouses endowed by the Raven family 1555 Burning of Rowland Taylor 1618 Charter of Incorporation as a borough 1560 A peal of the bells was rung when Elizabeth I passed through Hadleigh on her way to Shelley Hall, the home of her Master of Ceremonies 1665 The plague 1685 Parish library in the church 1686 Surrender of the Charter 1832 URC Church built 1831-3 Deanery house rebuilt 1834 Brown and Moy's silk mill opened 1839 Gas lighting introduced 1843 Hadleigh Bridge rebuilt 1846 Sewerage began 1847 Railway opened 1851 New Town Hall built 1853 Road to Sudbury over Friars Hill opened 1854 Exterior of church restored 1856 Town cemetery opened 1861 Gas Works built 1869 Local Government Board took over control of the town 1871 Interior of church restored 1894 Hadleigh Urban District Council took over from the Local Government Board 1901 School Board built the Council School in Station Road 1920 Bus Service to Ipswich began 1926 Piped water supplied to the town 1932 Railway passenger services ceased 1964 The Industrial Estate opened 1965 Railway freight services ceased and track taken up 1968 St. Mary's Church of England School opened 1974 Local Government Reorganisation. The U.D.C. replaced by the Hadleigh Town Council, presided over by a Town Mayor 2003 New Beaumont Primary School opened