Old money. New money. Too much money. Not enough money. OIL money.

Guess what this sermon's about, folks?

Yep, lucre or more accurately how people respond to those who have rather a lot of it.

My earthly days witnessed the growing power of the rising mercantile classes, which caused all manner of alarums among the established landowners and, dare I say, those holding church offices. 

Yet, Mary Tudor's unpleasant interlude aside, one of the great social successes of the sixteenth century was how the new money reconciled itself with the old, not least by paying off its debts, buying up its under-used assets and going on various property building sprees. 

Inter-marriage added to the, er, stickiness of the alliances as well. 

They were the new wine, quite possibly made from pinot noir grapes, poured into the old bottles of their day.  

I wonder if we are witnessing something similar now in dear old Hadders?

Steven 'Baron' O'Leary has probably had more of a recent tangible impact on our built landscape than all the landlords, planners and councillors combined – with the exception of the massive mess at Corks Lane, courtesy of the decision by 'Littlissimo' Ward's ancient regime to evacuate the old Babergh offices there. 

But unlike these plodding builders or the town's various hobby developers who offer affordable housing and then subsequently rat on the commitment, Baron O'Leary is the real estate real deal.

He and his team have transformed the tired old Suffolk Punch that was the Marquis of Cornwallis pub in Layham into the vibrant regional attraction that it is today. Yes, there was some querulous opposition and snidey comments about the Disneyfication of the village, but the creation of jobs, jobs and more jobs has won most folks over – for now.

Oh, and the dining is rather good. Even Mrs Taylor, the Jay Rayner of us spectres, is impressed!

With one leap, Baron moved onto buying Partridges and in a smart PR gambit committed to keeping the name for his new restaurant plus extras, hence mollifying all those types that made such a big performative fuss of buying one Barbour jacket every decade and so precipitating the store's eventual demise.

Everyone loved Baron O'Leary.

Then like Jay Gatesby, he didn't let the grass grow under his proverbials but moved onto his current big project converting the old Barclays Bank site into flats and houses, under the auspices of the amusingly titled, John Paul Getty-esque OIL (O'Leary Investments Limited). 

But this development has, alas, caused a few mutterings, not least due to the various inconveniences being heaped on other residents. Whilst the construction workers are uniformly polite, if not charming, I hear some folks are getting a little tired of not being able to use, for a few months now, the pavement on the High Street side of the site.

On the Magdalen Road aspect, things are a lot more chaotic. There is growing consternation that the Baron's building materials get delivered slap bang in the middle of both the drive to work and the school run – with the frequent use of temporary traffic lights and barriers just to rub the frustration in that little more.

Given that Baron O'Leary has previous in reading the room well, I'm sure he'll be making a small donation to a Hadleigh charity  - or even Hadleigh Community Primary School - as a way of saying soz for all the bother.  

This might not be the last time he has an opportunity to dob in some new money to keep old residents onside. 

My old preaching gig – St. Mary's Church - is in need of an awful lot of dosh (some things never change) to repair all its decaying bits and bobs and convert the wonderful space therein for use by all our community. 

Perhaps the Baron could go halves by supporting the work in return for converting the tower into another restaurant? 

And if he goes ahead with this rather cunning plan, I have just the name for the new venture.

Rowland's.