Constable Country and
the Stour Valley
Ancient towns and beautiful secluded villages,
its landscape designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Both town and country are
steeped in history, from Boudicea’s stand against the Romans,
invasions by the Vikings, settlement by the Normans and the early ‘industrialisation’ created
by a thriving wool trade.
The River Stour, one of the longest and
most beautiful rivers in East Anglia, little changed over the centuries,
winds its way through
a wide pastoral and wooded valley to the coast at Manningtree.
Inspiration to artists over the centuries, its landscape inspired
great works
by Constable, Gainsborough, Munnings and Nash. Scenes represented
in many of these paintings – The Hay Wain at Flatford Mill – remain
familiar to us today.
With delightful village pubs, fine restaurants,
peaceful country walks and cycle-paths this is an area to explore
at a leisurely
pace.
Hadleigh
From the Norse – Haethlega – a heath-covered
place, there is evidence of 1st century occupation in the remains
of a Roman villa
on the east of the town and of a 5th century pagan Saxon settlement
in the area around George Street. The ninth and tenth century saw
occupation by Viking settlers. From then on Hadleigh’s prosperity
grew with the development of the wool trade in mid Suffolk. The
inheritance for us is a plethora of fine medieval houses; the 15th
century grade
1 listed Guildhall and Deanery Tower.
Dedham Vale
Very little has changed here over the
past two centuries so that the village retains a delightful mixture
of Tudor framed buildings
and Georgian fronted town
houses. A paradise for artists, Dedham was home to Sir Alfred Munnings, famous
for his paintings of horses, and President of the Royal Academy from 1944 to
1949.
Stratford St Mary
The southern most village in Suffolk important since
Roman times as a crossing point of the Stour river – Stratford
St Mary means ‘street over the
ford’. There are three fine old pubs, including The Swan, in the village
from where you can walk down to the river and see the old lock and millpond
popularised by Constable’s paintings. Many of the buildings date back
to the wealthy days of the wool trade, including The Weavers, a fine example
of a 16th century
weaver’s cottage, its wide windows designed to maximise the light to
enable the weavers to do their work.
East Bergholt
The birthplace of John Constable, his
studio can still be seen today, East Bergholt was a centre for
cloth production until
the late 16th century, when
the wool
trade collapsed. Such a sudden downturn in wealth meant that the tower of St
Mary’s Church was never finished and a wooden bell cage was built in
the churchyard instead in 1531. It remains today.
Flatford
The scene of one of Constable’s most
famous pictures, the Hay Wain, showing Willy Lott’s house
in the background. Now run by the National Trust, the facilities
include the Bridge House containing the John Constable Exhibition,
Flatford Mill, Willy Lott’s House and Valley Farm, which are leased to
The Field Studies Council. The River Stour Trust operate an electric launch
for river trips at certain times during the season. |
