GLEMSFORD, a village and a parish in Sudbury district, Suffolk. The village stands near the river Stour and the Cambridge and Colchester railway, 4¼ miles ENE of Clare; and has a post office under Sudbury, a railway station, and a fair on 24 June. The parish comprises 2, 295 acres. Real property, £6, 456. Pop. in 1851, 1, 626; in 1861, 1, 932. Houses, 419. The increase of pop. arose from the extension of horse-hair weaving and cocoa-nut fibre manufacture. Silk weaving and wool weaving also are carried on. The property is not much divided. The manor belonged, at Domesday, to Earl Odo. A priests' college was established here in the time of Edward the Confessor; and had numerous privileges, which were confirmed by Stephen, Henry II., and Henry III. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, £582.* Patron, the Bishop of Ely. The church is ancient, and has a tower which recently was rebuilt. There are chapels for Independents and Baptists, a national school, and charities £36.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))