HADLEIGH, a market town in Suffolk, England ; 7o m. N.E. from London, the terminus of a branch of the L.N.E. railway. Pop. of urban district (1931) 2,952. Hadleigh, called by the Saxons Heapde-leag, appears in Domesday Book as Hetlega. About 885 Aethelflaed, with the consent of Aethelred, her hus band, gave Hadleigh to Christ Church, Canterbury. The dean and chapter of Canterbury have held it since the Dissolution. In the 17th century Hadleigh was famous for the manufacture of cloth, and was incorporated in 1618. It was constituted a free borough under the title of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of Hadleigh. In 1635, in a list of the corporate towns of Suffolk to be assessed for ship money, Hadleigh is named as third in importance. It declined after the plague in 1636 and in 1687 was deprived of its charter. An unsuccessful attempt to recover it was made in 1701. There is evidence of the existence of a market here as early as the 13th century. James I., granted fairs on Monday and Tuesday in Whitsun week, and confirmed an ancient fair at Michaelmas and a market on Monday. It lies on the Brett, a tributary of the Stour. The church of St. Mary is Perpendicular, with an Early English tower and Decorated spire. The Rectory Tower, a turreted gate-house of brick, dates from 1495. The gild-hall is a Tudor building. Matting and malting are important trades. Hadleigh was one of the towns in which the woollen industry was started by Flemings and survived until the 18th century.