Great Cornard is a large village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

that is part of the town of Sudbury, in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England.

History

The area now called Great Cornard has been occupied since pre-history, with evidence of

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

settlements in the parish. The village is accounted for in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 as the manor of Cornard. The village was consistently a small one until the 20th century. Following the turn of the century the population steadily increased and a

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

was built in the 1960s. In the 1950s and 60s the village was greatly expanded following the

County of London Plan The County of London Plan was prepared for the London County Council in 1943 by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957) Its main purpose was to point out the main directions of development and ...

, with the village taking in

London overspill London overspill communities are the communities created as a result of the government policy of moving residents out of Greater London into other areas in the South East of England between the 1930s and the 1970s. These largely consisted of coun ...

. By the beginning of the 21st century the population of Great Cornard was approaching that of the town of Sudbury.

Sport & Leisure

Great Cornard has a Non-League football club Cornard United who play at Blackhouse Lane. The village is also the homes of the

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

teams for neighbouring Sudbury, also the home of the Sudbury Motor Cycle Club track at Tye Farm. On the outskirts of the village lies Cornard Country Park, a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

containing wild flower meadows and woodland.

Education

Secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

is provided by Thomas Gainsborough School, which also houses the village's sports centre, library and theatre. Primary schools include Wells Hall Primary School and Pot Kiln Primary School.

Notable residents

Former Arsenal

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, Perry Groves grew up in Great Cornard, playing for youth team Cornard Dynamos Football Club as a boy.

Sources

The Great Cornard Information Website - Cornard History

References

External links

Great Cornard Information website
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Sudbury, Suffolk