Hotels in Sudbury, Suffolk

Sudbury's history dates back into the age of the Saxons, the town's earliest mention is in 799 AD, when Aelfhun, Bishop of Dunwich, died in the town. The Saxon Chronicle records the town as Suthberie ("south-borough"), presumed to distinguish it from Norwich, to the North. The town is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, as a market town where the local people came to barter their goods.

Sudbury was one of the first town in which Edward III settled the Flemings, allowing the weaving and silk industries to prosper for centuries during the Late Middle Ages. As the main town in the area, Sudbury prospered too, and many great houses and churches were built, giving the town a major historical legacy. The Woolsack in the House of Lords was originally stuffed with wool from the Sudbury area, a sign of both the importance of the wool industry and of the wealth of the donors.

One citizen of Sudbury, Archbishop Simon Sudbury showed that not even the Tower of London guarantees safety. On 14 June 1381 guards opened the Tower's doors and allowed revolting peasants to enter. Sudbury, inventor of the Poll Tax, was dragged to Tower Hill and beheaded. His body was afterwards buried in Canterbury Cathedral, but his skull is kept in St. Gregory's with St. Peter's Church, one of the three medieval churches in Sudbury.