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From Sible Hedingham to Florence. The Remarkable Life of Sir John Hawkwood


St. Peter’s Sible Hedingham.

A hefty padlock bars entry to the fourteenth century church of St Peter in Sible Hedingham. The village has in recent times become the focus of a particularly destructive breed of young vandal and the church is in a
permanent state of siege. As a result the casual visitor is denied access to the memorial which is to be found inside and which celebrates Sible Hedingham’s most famous son, Sir John Hawkwood. There is a certain irony in this, as Hawkwood’s fame was based on a career as one of the most notorious, destructive and successful bandits of medieval times. A contemporary, Sir Thomas Gray, (with remarkable prescience of the twentieth century vernacular), called the mercenaries which Hawkwood came to command “a horde of yobs.”

The memorial itself is remarkably modest for a man who became, amongst other things, captain-general of Florence, Duke of the Duchy of Spoleto and ambassador to the court of Richard II. All that remains of the memorial is a tomb recess in the south wall fronted by an elegant sculpted ogee arch. A number of carved stone hawks provide a clue to the subject of the memorial, although it is by no means certain that Hawkwood, who died in Florence in 1394, was ever buried here.

Enter the west door of the Duomo in Florence, accustom your eyes to the gloom, advance along the north aisle and in the third bay look up to your left. There you will see an enormous and magnificent (27 ft x 17 ft) fresco by Paolo Uccello of a military figure on horseback. Depicted as a statue standing on a plinth, there is nothing modest about this regal, triumphal figure. The Latin inscription identifies him as Ioannes Acutus and he is none other than Sir John Hawkwood, late of Sible Hedingham.

 

The Hawkwood Memorial.

The Fresco of Hawkwood
in the Duomo,Florence.

 


Hawkwood was born in Sible Hedingham about 1320, his father being a free tenant of the de Veres of Hedingham Castle. In 1338 when Hawkwood was aged 18, Edward III took up arms to enforce his claim to the French throne,
thus starting the 100 years war. John de Vere, Seventh Earl of Oxford raised troops to support the king and Hawkwood, whose family knew the de Veres well, (his elder brother was a steward of the de Vere household), joined his feudal lord as an archer. At Crecy in 1346 Hawkwood commanded, with some distinction, a troop of 250 archers and at the battle of Poitiers ten years later he was knighted for his part in the victory. Morant the Essex historian, says of him that he was “accounted the poorest knight in the army.”

By early 1360 Edward was besieging Paris, but then things started to go wrong. The weather forced a retreat and later that year a treaty was signed at Bretigny under which Edward renounced his claim to the French throne; the French king, who was a prisoner in London, was to be ransomed for 3 million gold crowns, the cession of Guienne and Calais to the King of England was
confirmed and huge transfers, representing about a quarter of France were made to the English.

Edward and the Black Prince sailed back to England and so did many of the English troops (including Geoffrey Chaucer who had been captured by the French and ransomed for £16). But many of the soldiers who found themselves so suddenly unemployed stayed in France, and John Hawkwood (“finding his estate too small to support his title and dignity”) was one of them.

Readers of The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle will know the 14th century as the age of chivalry, when gallant knights sought out heroic deeds that would bring them honour for the sake of their fair ladies. In spite of
this, the most barbarous acts of cruelty were committed without a second thought in the pursuit of what often, seem to us now, quite comical heroic ideals and the jousting which still takes place at Hedingham Castle is very much the sanitised side of the picture.

Beneath the heroic veneer, soldiers in the English army were recruited to the flag very largely by the prospect of plunder. Armies were made up of small groups of soldiers who owed allegiance to their feudal chief but were in fact
mercenaries whose main motivation was to grow rich on loot and ransom. As a result of the plague which rampaged throughout the 14th century and killed almost half of the population in Europe, there was everywhere a shortage of manpower, the social order had been greatly disrupted and it was possible to make the transition from servant to knight at break-neck speed. In the course of the war, vast areas of France had been pillaged and following the peace, the campaign of terror continued in total disregard of the order that all men-of-war should leave France. Of the leaders of the mercenary bands that were left in France after the treaty of Bretigny, John Hawkwood stood out as by far the most able, and by the end of the year his mercenaries were threatening the Pope who at that time had withdrawn his court to Avignon. The Pope eventually bought them off, and Hawkwood, at the Pope’s instigation, left France to do battle with the Visconti, the rulers of Milan.

Italy in the 14th century was the most successful country in Europe, but divided into competing city states which were almost permanently at war with each other. From his base in Avignon the Pope attempted to control his possessions in Italy while trying to prevent any single city state becoming too dominant. The country was ripe for exploitation by the mercenary armies who were hired by all parties, changed sides at the drop of a hat, extorted huge ransoms from clients and enemies alike, and behaved with the utmost barbarity.


Detail on Hawkwood tomb.

Hawkwood became leader of the White Company in 1363 and very soon proved a master in the business of pillage, blackmail and duplicity. Over the next 30  years he fought both for and against the Pope, Florence, Milan, Pisa, Siena and Perugia. Vast bribes were extracted from all of them and such was Hawkwood’s military reputation that he never lacked for clients prepared to employ him, despite the fact that over the years he betrayed them all. Unfortunately, they had no alternative as the city states mostly did not have their own standing armies and were therefore forced to employ mercenaries to do their fighting for them.

The White Company was very highly organized – its modern equivalent, though on a much smaller scale, might be the yakuza (gangster) gangs in Japan. Apart
from the soldiery the company employed lawyers and notaries to keep track of bribes and ransoms, sort out contracts and provide safe passes. Accountants and secretaries were a further necessary part of the organization as plunder had to be divided up among the troops who then sold their share through outside brokers. Also attached to the company were a huge retinue of priests, prostitutes, cooks, barbers, jesters and doctors.

The basic fighting unit was called a lance and consisted of a mounted soldier, an archer and a page. When ready to engage , they all dismounted and while the archer and the soldier wielded the lance, the page held back the horses. In the 14th century, the English longbow was the state of the art weapon. Archers could loose off 20 arrows in the minute that it took for a crossbowman to reload and they could do so with incredible accuracy – it was verging on the suicidal to put ones head above the parapet.

The mercenary companies’ method of operating was usually to set up camp under the city walls of their intended victim and then see if they could extract a bribe for not attacking. If that failed or if the bribe was insufficient, they would use scaling ladders to get into the town, torch the greater part of it, ransom anyone of consequence and carry off or rape the women.

The campaign against the Visconti having reached stalemate, a truce was called and this gave Hawkwood the opportunity to transfer his services to Pisa. Over the next thirty years, his allegiance changed with bewildering
frequency as he fought for and against Milan, Pisa, Florence, Perugia, Siena and the Papacy. So great was his influence that he was involved in arranging the marriage of Edward III’s third son , the Duke of Clarence, to the daughter of the Duke of Milan. (Clarence died some four months after the wedding – possibly poisoned). Hawkwood’s position received further recognition when he married the (admittedly illegitimate) daughter of the duke of Milan’s brother. Hawkwood was 57 and she was 17.

Florence offered perhaps the most consistent rewards, and Hawkwood, to quote Morant, the Essex historian, “continued to the last, General of the Florentines, whom he served with such happy success, that he may well be
stiled (sic) the founder or establisher of their Republic. At length, this valiant knight, loaden with honor and riches, died, in a very advanced age, at Florence, in 1394.”

So died “the ablest military commander of the Middle Ages.” He had, so to speak, spent the whole of his long life in the saddle. At the very end of his life, in true mercenary fashion he appears to have run out of money, in contrast to Morant’s description of him being “loaden with riches”. Two letters survive, the oldest extant letters in the English language, giving instructions for the
disposal of his (modest) estates in England. The letters make clear his intention to come back to England, but he died first, thus triggering the instruction to establish a chantry to say prayers for him and his military comrades in the church at Sible Hedingham and the nunnery at Castle Hedingham.

His widow, on the other hand, does appear to have visited England to inspect the surviving Essex estates. The authorities in Florence wrote a letter of introduction to Richard II on her behalf and he replied by asking that Hawkwood’s remains be returned to England. The Florentines reluctantly agreed, though it transpired that he had been cremated and that what had been interred in the Duomo were “ashes and bones”. It is unknown whether the ashes were in fact returned, in which case they would presumably have been reburied in Sible Hedingham. There is a strange parallel here (c.f. Colne- Stour newsletter April 2004) with the reburial in 1395 at Earls Colne of Robert de Vere, Richard II’s favourite. Robert’s body had been brought back from France where he had been killed by a wild boar, and the King at the funeral had the coffin opened so that he could “look once more on the face of the man he loved.”

In 1395 as a memorial to Hawkwood, a fresco was commissioned for the cathedral in Florence. Forty years later, the original having faded or been damaged in some way, a replacement was painted by Paulo Uccello. The magnificent fresco of Hawkwood, holding aloft his baton of command, harks back to Roman antecedents and for obvious political reasons is designed to give him an aura of chivalry , rectitude and nobility – virtues that he never had in real life.

JEREMY HILL

2023 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 Magazine
Year: 2022
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2022
Rebel with a cause
Year: 2022
A National Centre for Thomas Gainsborough’s Masterpieces
Year: 2022
EA Festival at Hedingham Castle
Category: Culture
Year: 2022
The Gainsborough Line
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2022
Music, Mischief and Mayhem – Opera at Layer Marney
Year: 2022
Bures Music Festival
Year: 2022
Holm House Gardens in Suffolk
Year: 2022

2020 - Welcome to our 2020 lockdown edition - only published ONLINE. Read about the wonderful Alfred Munnings Exhibition "Behind the Lines"; find out how the beavers have been getting on at the Spains Hall Estate in Finchingfield, introduced back into Essex after an absence of 400 years; explore the link between Ferriers in Bures and the Voyage of the Mayflower, the Salem Witch trials and Wampum belts; read a fascinating interview with Carl Shillingford, talented Michelin chef and keen local forager; and enjoy a celebratory update from Ken Forrester on South African wines and his support for a wonderful local school.  

2020 Magazine
Year: 2020
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2020
Behind the Lines: Alfred Munnings, War Artist
Category: Art, Culture
Year: 2020
The Foragers Retreat – Michelin chef in Pebmarsh.
Category: Food, Nature
Year: 2020
Dam Good Job – Beavers back in Essex after 400 years.
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature
Year: 2020
Ferriers – a Bures house and its connection to the Mayflower.
Category: Adventure. Travel, Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2020
Three special milestones for Ken Forrester Wines  
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2020

2019 - Read about Tudor living on a grand scale at Alston Court, how Samuel Courtauld & Co. shaped our towns and villages, hear inspiring stories of local vineyards Tuffon Hall and West Street, get an update on the Dedham Vale AONB extension, and take a tour round Polstead Mill, one of East Anglia's beautiful secret gardens. 

Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2019
Dedham Vale AONB extension
Year: 2019
The Tuffon Hall Transformation
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
A Hong Kong racehorse in an Essex field
Category: Nature
Year: 2019
Andy Gentle – A chainsaw love affair
Category: Business
Year: 2019
A vivid insight into Tudor living on the grand scale.
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2019
Underground Moats & Zinc Cathedrals
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
Secret Gardens of East Anglia – Polstead Mill
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Repairing the damage of a supermarket delivery van
Year: 2019
How Samuel Courtauld and Co. shaped our towns and villages
Category: Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2019
Ken Forrester
Year: 2019
CSCA Photography Competition
Year: 2019
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2019

2018 - Read about Hedingham Castle, a new National Centre for Gainsborough in Sudbury, award-winning new Gins from Adnams, aspects of our Industrial Heritage, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project, and take a look at the proposed new Constitution for CSCA.. 

Chairmans Letter April 2018
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
History of the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, Culture, History
Year: 2018
Another Suffolk Success Story – Time for a G & T?
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2018
Some more aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: Agricultural, Brewing, distilling and wine, History
Year: 2018
An Earl’s Tower
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
A Castle Reborn
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
A National Centre for Gainsborough set within the town where he was born and the landscape that inspired him
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, History
Year: 2018
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens, History
Year: 2018
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2018
New Constitution
Year: 2018
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2018

2017 - Read about our local industrial heritage, Paycocke's House history, why heritage matters, the art of Alfred Munnings, a haunted house in Lamarsh, celebrating Gainsborough, the beauty of recreating Cedric Morris's Iris collection and a small wine snippet from Ken Forrester. 

Chairmans Letter April 2017
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2017
Heritage Matters
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2017
Some aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: History
Year: 2017
Paycocke’s House: a witness to history
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
The House of his Dreams: Reimagining The Munnings Art Museum
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
‘The Haunted House’ of Lamarsh – Some Early Reflections
Category: History
Year: 2017
Gainsborough’s House: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
Another, highly unusual, Suffolk Success Story
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Garden Visits 2017
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Dirty Little Secret
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2017
Website
Category: News
Year: 2017
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2017
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2017

2016 - Interesting articles on medieval graffiti, farming in the Stour Valley, exploring our AONB, early settlers from the Stour Valley to America, the archaeology of a local farm, a wonderful catalogue of British birds, celebrating a Suffolk joinery business, the weather from a South African winery. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2016
Medieval Graffiti: the hidden histories…
Category: History
Year: 2016
Stour Valley Farming
Category: Business
Year: 2016
The Godly Kingdom of the Stour Valley
Category: History
Year: 2016
Keeping It Special in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Lodge Farm, Rectory Road, Wyverstone Street, Suffolk
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2016
A Miscellany of Information about British Birds
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Another Suffolk Success Story
Category: Business
Year: 2016
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2016
Harvest, Fires and Fynbos
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
LOOKING FORWARDS, BEFORE I GET LEFT BEHIND….
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2016
Annual General Meeting and Summer Party
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2016
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2016

2015 - The life and times of a flint knapper. A continuation about the history of the ancient farm at Henny and a visit to the inside of Alston Court, Nayland as well as an insight into The Antiques Roadshow.  

Chairman’s Letter – February 2015
Category: Annual
Year: 2015
Caught Knapping
Category: History
Year: 2015
ALSTON COURT
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2015
ORGANIC MUTTERINGS
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY – PART 2
Category: History
Year: 2015
ON AND OFF THE ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
Category: Business
Year: 2015
UNLOCKING THE ARTIST WITHIN: FINE ART LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2015
BADGERS – LOVE’EM, OR HATE’EM?
Category: Nature
Year: 2015
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Gardens
Year: 2015
FORRESTER VINEYARDS, SOUTH AFRICA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2015
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2015

2014 - A hair-raising flight from UK to South Africa and an insight into the Wineries of Stellenbosch. An exceptional old mill just outside Bures and a most unusual chapel on the hill behind, as well as a time warp farm at Henny. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2014
Category: Annual
Year: 2014
ST. STEPHEN’S CHAPEL, BURES
Category: History
Year: 2014
THE STELLENBOSCH WINE ROUTE – THE PEOPLE AND THE DOGS!
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2014
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A FLIGHT TO STELLENBOSCH AND BACK
Category: Adventure. Travel
Year: 2014
A SUFFOLK SUCCESS STORY – JIM LAWRENCE LTD
Category: Business
Year: 2014
HOLD FARM, BURES ST MARY; A RARE TUDOR WATERMILL
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2014
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY
Category: History
Year: 2014
YOUR COUNTRYSIDE – FIGHT FOR IT NOW! your Britain fight for it now
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2014
TUNBRIDGEWARE
Category: History
Year: 2014
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB) – UPDATE
Category: News, Planning Issues
Year: 2014
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2014
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2014
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2014

2013 - Watermills on the Stour. How Constable and Gainsborough would have seen many of the buildings in our area. Let’s protect the Stour Valley by extending the AONB from where we take over from The Dedham Vale at Wormingford towards Sudbury. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2013
Category: Annual
Year: 2013
THE WATERMILLS OF THE RIVER STOUR
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
MANAGING A MASTERPIECE: THE STOUR VALLEY LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB)
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
BUILDINGS IN THE EAST ANGLIAN LANDSCAPE – AS SEEN BY JOHN CONSTABLE
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
THE ROUND CHURCH AT MAPLESTEAD
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
THE FINE WINES OF ENGLAND
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2013
PROGRESS AGAINST PYLONS: A ROUNDUP OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PYLONS SAGA
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
TEA AND THE TEA CADDY A BRIEF STUDY OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF TEA AND ITS CONTAINERS
Category: History
Year: 2013
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2013
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2013
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2013

2012 - A walk through many of the churches along the River Stour and how the Romans once lived right here in our midst, and how your pint is brewed. Also the ongoing fight to rid the Stour of the blight of Pylons. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – FEBRUARY 2012
Category: Annual
Year: 2012
TREES R US – AN AMATEUR ARBORETUM
Category: Nature
Year: 2012
GLIMPSES INTO SOME STOUR VALLEY CHURCHES
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2012
THE ART OF BREWING
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2012
PLANNING REFORM
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2012
‘ELF ‘N SAFETY . . . AND ALL THAT
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
BRINGING OUR PAST TO LIFE: GESTINGTHORPE ROMAN VILLA
Category: History
Year: 2012
MINIATURE OR APPRENTICE PIECE?
Category: History
Year: 2012
GAINSBOROUGH’S VIEW
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
NEW STOUR VALLEY ENVIRONMENT FUND
Category: News
Year: 2012
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2012
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2012
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 46TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 12TH MAY 2011
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2012

2011 - The brewers of East Anglia. The gardens of Marks Hall as well as the paintings of Alfred Munnings on display in Sudbury. How a small church became the Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds and all you need to know about antique birdcages. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – APRIL 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
Pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2011
THE PAINTED CHURCH BECOMES BURY’S CATHEDRAL
Category: History
Year: 2011
MARKS HALL AND THE PHILLIPS PRICE TRUST
Category: History
Year: 2011
BREWING IN EAST ANGLIA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2011
BURES MILL OVER NINE CENTURIES
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2011
LANDSCAPES BY MUNNINGS EXHIBITION AT GAINSBOROUGH’S HOUSE
Category: Art
Year: 2011
BIRD-CAGES – A FASCINATION
Category: History
Year: 2011
DAWS HALL EVENTS 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2011
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2011
TREASURERS REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2011
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 45TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 6TH MAY 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011

2010 - An artist who enjoyed his port and a canoe adventure along the Stour. Sudbury’s history and Coggeshall Abbey and a fight to get rid of Pylons from the Stour Valley. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2010
A Pint of Port to Paint a Picture
Category: Art, History
Year: 2010
A Walk Round Coggeshall Abbey
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
By Canoe to Cattawade
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
Nocturnal Visitors
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Sudbury New Town – c.1330
Category: History
Year: 2010
A Stay in a Nomad’s Tent
Category: Business
Year: 2010
Freeing our countryside of the blight of pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2010
Hobbies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2010
Website
Category: News
Year: 2010
Annual General Meeting 2009
Category: Annual
Year: 2010

2009 - Norwich School art and the Maplesteads. Ancient wallpapers, and is Long Melford the epitome of a Suffolk village? and don’t throw away a rug before checking what it is. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
By Hook or by Crook
Category: Art, History
Year: 2009
Unwanted Wildlife – Some Handy Hints
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
East Ruston Old Vicarage
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Squash a Squirrel – Save a Tree
Category: Nature
Year: 2009
Historic Wallpapers and Cole & Son
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Long Melford – ‘Suffolk in a day’
Category: Architectural Interest, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2009
Don’t throw away a fortune!
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Garden Visits. Away Days
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Website
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
Editors Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2009
Annual General Meeting 2008
Category: Annual
Year: 2009

2008 - The bell founders of Sudbury and all about a rogue from our area, Sir John Hawkwood, and a Sudbury secret – Gainsborough’s House. 

Member’s Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2008
Cycling in Suffolk – An Environmental Holiday
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
The Sudbury Bell Founders
Category: History
Year: 2008
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2008
From Sible Hedingham to Florence. The Remarkable Life of Sir John Hawkwood
Category: History
Year: 2008
‘One of Suffolk’s Best Kept Secrets’- Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
Discovering Historic Wallpaper in East Anglian Houses
Category: History
Year: 2008
The not so humble Mole (Talpa Europaea) and how to catch him
Category: Nature
Year: 2008
Annual Report 2007.
Category: Annual
Year: 2008

2007 - Why a bell had to be chipped to get into the belfry at Lamarsh. Watermills on the Colne and Dragonflies. 

Water Mills on the Upper Colne
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2007
Dragonflies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2007
Lamarsh Bell Restoration
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2007
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2007
What is wrong with our Horse Chestnuts?
Category: Nature
Year: 2007

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