An historic market town of which its residents are justifiably proud
Saxmundham is an historic Market Town close to the Suffolk Coast, on the old Coach & horses route from London to the Continent. Many of the charming shops and houses in the town are of Georgian or Victorian appearance, and some are older dating back to Elizabethan times - such as Monks Cottages and Angel Yard in the Market Place.
Today it has a busy high street and offers great access by rail and road to many of the nearby 'must see' places to visit, providing an excellent touring base to explore the Suffolk Coast. The town boasts a number of cafés, pubs and restaurants along with a diverse selection of independent shops, plus the area’s only Waitrose supermarket!
Did you know?
Set in the valley of the River Fromas - a tributary of the Alde, Saxmundham has possessed a market charter since 1272 AD right up to the present day, with a market held every Wednesday.
There are a wide variety of buildings to be seen in the town including many from the Victorian and Georgian eras and even a few which date back to Tudor times. When the BBC House Detectives visited Monks Cottages they uncovered many original Tudor features including stud work, plaster and horsehair reinforced walls as well as inglenook fireplaces, ornate carved oak beams and large oak floor boards.
The Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne feature a character called Brother Eadulf who the story details as hailing from Saxmundham, and Tremayne has used Saxmundham as the setting for several of his stories, describing it as “Seaxmund's Ham in the land of the South Folk”. NBA basketball player Ray Allen also spent some of his childhood in Saxmundham as a result of his father’s military career.