Market Hill

St Peter's Church and Thomas Gainsborough statue, Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk

The artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) is Sudbury's most famous son. The church behind him, St Peter, has been redundant since 1975 and is now used for concerts and exhibitions.

To take full advantage of Flickr, you should use a JavaScript-enabled browser and
install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player.

Comments

Lincolnian (Brian) says:

Nicely captured. Shame so many churches seem to be going this way, looks a lovely building.

'Seen in1-2-3 History
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Simon_K says:

Thank you Sudbury has a population of less than 15,000, but it has three large medieval churches, so as the Church of England went into decline it was inevitable that one at least would have to go.

In fact, there is a possibility that St Peter may be restored to use by the Church of England, ironically because of that very decline in CofE congregations. The Anglicans kept on the vast church of St Gregory, but there are so few of them now, and they rattle aound in the place. Next door to St Gregory is the Catholic church of Our Lady and St John, which only holds 150 people at a time when, as in most of East Anglia, the Catholic Mass-going population is booming. The regular Sunday Catholic Mass attendance can't all fit in as it is, so they've started borrowing St Gregory for big occasions when many more are likely to turn up.

There are now discussions about the Anglicans moving to the church in this picture, St Peter, and letting the Catholics have St Gregory, which can hold 600 people. It would be nice to see it back in use, and in a worthy cause.
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Ed the Greek says:

I've just noticed how uncannily like Bury St Edmunds town centre this is.
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Simon_K says:

Well, it is a big square with a town hall and a corn exchange, but a big difference is that Bury doesn't have any medieval churches with west towers. Sudbury has three of them! I know what you mean about that line of buildings on the far side of the square though.

Although it has now been overtaken in size by at least half a dozen others, Sudbury was historically the third town of Suffolk after Ipswich and Bury, and it still gets the third biggest entry in the Suffolk Pevsner. Of the smaller Suffolk towns probably only Framlingham and Beccles are as interesting historically.
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Ed the Greek says:

Used to go there with my Mum when I was little, she bought her knickers from William & Griffin which used to be a proper little 'department store'. I understand Sudbury has a dreadful drugs problem nowadays.
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Simon_K says:

Yes... in fact, it has had a dreadful drug problem for thirty years or more. But not much violence. Possibly a connection there.

Not sure how my mum would feel if I posted a message about her knicker-buying habits on the internet to be read by all and sundry :-)
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Would you like to comment?

[?]

	Simon_K's photostream
		21,714 uploads

This photo also belongs to:

	suffolk churches (Set)
		3,247 items
	Part of: The East and The Light

	Sudbury (Set)
		34 items
	Part of: The East

	places (Set)
		319 items
	Part of: The World

	Suffolk (Pool)
		0

	Architecture (Pool)
		0

	Hallowed Ground (Pool)
		0

	Buildings/Architecture (Pool)
		0

	Churches (Pool)
		0

	Autostitch (and other stitching software) (Pool)
		0

	Historical places (Pool)
		0

	English Parish Churches (whole exteriors only) (Pool)
		0

	Church Exteriors (Pool)
		0

	Churches, Chapels, Domes, Mosques, Temples, Shrines and Monaster (Pool)
		0

	East Anglia (Pool)
		0

	History is All Around Us (Pool)
		0

	CHURCHES & HOUSES OF WORSHIP (Pool)
		0

	Englishness (Pool)
		0

	The World Through My Eyes - Post 1 / Comment Any 1 (Pool)
		0

	1-2-3 History (post 1, comment on 2, view 3) (Pool)
		0

	Suffolk Churches (Pool)
		0

	churchcrawling (Pool)
		0

	IMAGE`S OF BUILDINGS - OLD AND NEW (Pool)
		0

	'Six of the best' (Pool)
		0

	Cool Britain (Pool)
		0

Additional Information

Taken on March 19, 2007

2 people call this photo a favorite

Viewed 398 times

Add to your map

Yay location removed

...

(Some formats are OK.)

Or, remove it from the map.

Go to the map

You	Sign in \| Create Your Free Account
Explore	Places \| Last 7 Days \| This Month \| Popular Tags \| The Commons \| Creative Commons \| Search
Help	Community Guidelines \| The Help Forum \| FAQ \| Sitemap \| Help by Email

Market Hill

Comments

Lincolnian (Brian) says:

Simon_K says:

Ed the Greek says:

Simon_K says:

Ed the Greek says:

Simon_K says:

Would you like to comment?

Tags

Additional Information