Haverhill

A market town for almost 1000 years, Haverhill still hosts a provisions market each Friday and Saturday throughout the year. The town is a popular shopping centre, with a combination of national and local retailers lining its streets.

Haverhill was recorded in the Domesday survey in 1086, but even before the English and Normans came archaeological evidence shows that both Stone Age man and later the Romans thought this valley a good place to settle. The town thrived through its textile industry notably in the 19th century when it became a significant centre for the making of ‘drabbet’ smocks for the agricultural workers. In 1856, D Gurteen & Sons built a factory with 32 power looms driven by steam.

Although they had been in the town since the 1780s, the new factory brought expansion and the town became prosperous.

Cleves House’, a substantial manor house, commemorates the fact that Haverhill Manor was part of the marriage settlement between Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves.