Lavenham
Paintbox Village
This beautiful Suffolk village is well known for its collection of brightly coloured medieval houses, these beautiful buildings appear on countless calendars and postcards. The village has such an unusually large amount of medieval buildings due to its changing economic fortunes when it went from success and then sudden decline in the wool trade.
The manor of Lavenham passed to the Norman Knight Aubrey de Vere after the conquest and subsequently it grew rich on the wool trade and by the 15th century it was among the richest places in the British Isles. This wealth accounted for the construction of many of the beautiful buildings we see today; Lavenham’s blue broad cloth aided this growth as it was a major export.
However the growth of the wool trade in nearby Colchester started to impact on Lavenham’s trade fuelling the villages decline in prosperity. Dutch refugees who had settled here produced a lighter, thinner more fashionable material. This led to a dramatic drop in income which then put paid to any investment in property or modifications being made to the existing buildings this also meant that subsequent generations could not afford to build in any new styles.
Lavenham’s misfortune means that today we have one of the finest and possibly the best preserved collection of medieval houses in England. The towns past wealth can also be seen in one of the most lavishly constructed churches, that of St Peter and St Paul which is very large for the size of the village.
Other notable buildings include the Wool hall, completed in 1464 and the guildhall of the wool guild of Corpus Christi which was built in 1529. At One point the place was so wealthy that the visiting King Henry VII fined several families for displaying too much wealth.
The town is a great destination for visitors so do not forget your camera or paint box, Lavenham’s beautiful old buildings have made the town a popular location for film and television with Harry Potter scenes from the deathly hallows being filmed here. The Witchfinder general with Vincent Price was also shot on location, John Lennon’s film the Apotheosis used the village square for some scenes and TV’s Lovejoy was filmed here.
During the Second World War RAF Lavenham was the home to the American air force and part of the bombardment wing, the village and particularly the Swan inn commemorate this proud association.
Activities in Lavenham
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