Project number 1

Some of the papers stored in the Sudbury Ephemera Archive tell us about the houses in Sudbury that have since been demolished.

Unfortunately this Estate Agent’s description of two of the properties is very feint because it was printed in the days before modern computer printing. Therefore the details have been transcribed for you.

To view by courtesy of the tenants:

TO BE SOLD FOR INVESTMENT – NOS 4 AND 5 INKERMAN ROW SUDBURY

Situation. The properties are centrally situated being a few minutes walk from the Market Hill.

The row is just to the rear of North Street Car park.

Description: Roomy terraced house, constructed of brick with slate roof.

No. 4 is occupied by Mr King who pays a weekly rent of 5/4d (5 shillings and 4 pence).

No. 5 is occupied by Mr Nice who pays a weekly rent of 5/7 1/2d (5 shillings 7 and a half pence).

Accommodation in each cottage.
On the Ground Floor: Front room 12 feet by 11 feet 6 inches. Kitchen 10 feet 5 inches by 5 feet 4 inches, door to the rear garden.

First floor: Bedroom 23 feet by 11 feet 6 inches (note this would have been the weaving room).

Inkerman Row before the houses were demolished in the 1970’s.

Inkerman Row before the houses were demolished in the 1970’s.

Sudbury Photo Archive is also a source for pictures of weavers’ houses and silk weaving.

Sudbury is a famous silk weaving town and has some examples of weavers’ houses when weavers worked at home. These houses were three storey buildings and the middle floor was where the weaving loom was located. To provide natural light for the weaver to work the room was the entire middle floor and had a window at the front and back. The family lived in the rest of the building.

The looms were not powered by electricity in these homes in the 19th century so be careful what sort of loom you find.

The projects below requires you to find out the size of the houses in metric measurements. Use the Internet to research silk weaving and also the size of looms used in the home.

Select a project or create one of your own using this archive from the Sudbury Ephemera collection. Make a note of the time you spend working on it.

Suggested projects from these sample entries – you only need to choose one project.

1. Find out about the weaving looms used by silk weavers in their home in the nineteenth century.
2. Use the sale details to draw a scale plan of the building floor by floor. You will need to change the imperial measurements to metric.
3. If you live in Sudbury, try to identify the weavers’ houses that are still in existence today. List the streets and possibly mark them on a map.
4. Use the information you have discovered to write a story or poem about life as a weaver’s child living in one of these houses.
5. You could find out the size of a silk weaving loom and calculate how much space it would take up in the room on the middle floor of the house. It is planned that there will be a working example of the Jacquard loom in the shop at the Steven Walter’s factory in Cornard Road Sudbury, opposite Sainsbury’s Supermarket.