The Hadleigh Society

Hadleigh "is one of the most perfect Small Towns in England, with trees, old red brick, flint and plaster and that unassuming beauty of East Anglia which changes to glory in sunlight", Sir John Betjeman, February 1962.

Hadleigh is a small Suffolk market town lying in the valley of the River Brett, a part of Suffolk captured on canvas by the artists Constable and Gainsborough and many lesser known artists.

Archaeological evidence shows that the valley bottom has been inhabited since the Stone Age, excavations have revealed Bronze Age burial mounds, post holes from Iron Age huts, and the remains of Roman buildings. Early Saxon Burials have also been found. The towns written history dates from 890 with the town being one of the Danish leader Guthrum's royal towns and his burial place.

Through the whole of the mediaeval period the town was a major producer of woollen cloth and extremely wealthy. The wealth can be seen in the size of the parish church and the many mediaeval houses still in occupation.

In the 19th century many of the houses were modernised with new frontages but behind these facades the original mediaeval structure remains the core of the building. Throughout the centuries many of the residents, particularly the rectors, became famous, the most memorable of these being the Rector Doctor Rowland Tayler who was burned 'at the stake' on Aldham Common in 1555 and whose Curate Richard Yeoman burned at Norwich in 1558.

If you would like to see more of what the Society does visit its website here. Grateful thanks to Hadleigh Town Archives for lending us the photographs.