Hadleigh suffered none of the disturbances that occurred in other parts of Suffolk during the 1760's and 1790's. In 1795 the hungery labourers of Sudbury rioted, but in Hadleigh Mr. Reeve gave to the poor a fat bullock, which relieved nearly 800 people and there was no trouble.

Sarah Lloyd
In 1800 over 200 crimes carried the death sentence. On the night of 3rd October 1799 Sarah Lloyd, a maidservant 22 years old, admitted Joseph Clark, her lover, into the house of her mistress, Sara Syer, in Benton Street. She stole a watch and some trinkets while Clark set the house on fire. They were caught. At Bury Assizes the girl was sentenced to death for her stealing while Clark was aquitted. Petitions failed. But just before the execution day, 9th April 1800, the governor of Bury Gaol received a respite for 'S. Hop', a name unknown to him. So, thinking this could be a mistake for S. Lloyd, he postponed the execution until 23rd April and enquired of the Home Secretary. But no mercy was shown, and the girl was hanged. Capel Lofft, a reforming magistrate of Groton, sat beside her on the executioner's cart, cut her down after the hanging, and tried in vain to restore her life. When the news that it was all over reached Hadleigh, the distraught mother hanged herself too. Sarah Lloyd's memorial is on a ruined wall in Bury St. Edmunds churchyard, 'May my example be a warning to many'.

Riots in Hadleigh
In the slump of 1815, men desperate with hunger began to riot and to burn farms. The principle farmers received anonymous threats. In 1820, Mr. Thomas Gray, churhcwarned, was pursued to his hime by a mob who piled brushwood against his door and lit it, after he had locked himself in. The Home Office paid secret informers throughout the country to keep them in touch with events. The Hadleigh informer was W. Ward, of the Post Office (now 8 Market Place). In December 1930, he reported that the unemployed had refused offers of work at 10s. a week with free beer. They had marched in a gang to Bildeston and back via Whatfield, enticing others from the fields. On their return to Hadleigh, they took a man from Mr. Hudson's farm by Hadleigh Bridge. But Mr. Rand, the next neighbour, came out with a gun, placed himself between the young man and the mob, and swore he would shoot the first who tried to touch him. Then he escorted the young man home, with mob following at a safe distance. The magistrates sent to Ipswich for a troop of soldiers, but there was no more trouble

Oral History
The following was sent to me via e-mail from someone who came from Hadleigh

I myself am Hadleigh born and bred as they say although I no longer live there. My Grandfather was the local poacher and lived in George Street just opposite the old Methodist Chapel, I myself lived in Guthrum Road until 1975 and can remember the original Hadleigh people and the stories passed down from generation to generation.

One thing that may not be recorded, that was discovered by my Grandfather back in the 1930's is the existance of a tunnel that runs along George Street with an entrance that was in the shop basement of M W Partridge,it is beleived that it passes up to the Church at the Almshouses, across to Aldham Road where a Monastry used to be (now an Industrial area) and finally to near the Roland Taylor Memorial where there was a convent. The story related to me was that the air was foul so the workers could not travel all the way, but found various entrances at the above places and then bricked them up for safety.It is beleived that the tunnel connected the churches so that the Priests would not be seen, later they were used by the infamous Hadleigh Gang, the most feared band of Suffolk Smugglers in the area. In fact you probably know that a hoard of Brandy and Tobbacco was uncovered under the cellar of the George Hotel in the High Street during the 1960's. I thought this may interest you.