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Lavenham, and Lavenham Guildhall, Suffolk

House in Lavenham

When people think of industrial history they usually think of bleak towns in northern England during the nineteenth century. In reality the beautiful town of Lavenham in Suffolk is as much a part of industrial history as, say, Manchester.

Suffolk was for many hundreds of years the home of a huge textile industry. Sheep farming was traditional here, and cloth production grew up beside it. Then in the 1370s Edward III put a tax on the export of raw wool, which encouraged production of finished cloth, which wasn't taxed. Cloth merchants now began hiring hundreds of workers, to work on early "production lines." There was a rudimentary division of labour with different people concentrating on various stages of manufacture. Power came from running water. So important was the wool trade to England that from the reign of Edward III, the lord chancellor sat on a symbolic wool sack in the House of Lords, a tradition which continues today. The wool industry can be explored at the Guildhall in Lavenham. This National Trust owned building was once home to the weaver's guild which controlled Lavenham's wool industry.

 

 

 

 

Lavenham Church

By the 1460s Lavenham was producing more cloth than almost any other town in England. The huge wealth generated had to be shown off. A lavish cloth merchants house, Paycockes, can be seen in Coggeshall, not far from Lavenham, in Suffolk. Most impressive, however, were the churches, built out of wool profits. There are a number of these wool cathedrals in Suffolk, at Long Melford for example, and in Lavenham, where the church was completed in 1525. Ironically this was the same year that events began to conspire to bring down the once great industry. 1525 saw Henry VIII impose heavy taxation to finance pointless wars in France. The wars themselves disrupted trade and hastened decline. In a further irony, Lavenham's lavish Guildhall, built in 1530, was one of the last buildings to be erected before the market crashed. By the 1560s Lavenham had fallen into a desperate state of decline, which explains its preservation. While other more prosperous places grew and developed, Lavenham was trapped in its past. The town, which looks so much like the product of a more innocent age, is actually an industrial town preserved by economic disaster.

Film enthusiasts may be interested to know that part of Barry Lyndon was filmed at Lavenham Guildhall. Lavenham was also used as a location in the films Witchfinder General and The Canterbury Tales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lavenham Guildhall of Corpus Christi

 

Visiting details for Lavenham Guildhall

Opening Times: 28th March to 30th October 11am - 5pm daily.

5th to 27th November, 11am - 4pm, weekends only.

5th to 27th March 11am - 4pm, Wednesday to Sunday.

Closed Good Friday.

Address: Lavenham Guildhall of Corpus Christi, Market Place, Lavenham, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 9QZ

Directions: Lavenham is on the A1141 in Suffolk, about five miles north east of Sudbury. The Guildhall is in the Market Place. Click here for an interactive map centred on Lavenham.

Access: There is a level entrance. Ground floor is uneven, and the second floor can only be reached by stairs. The shop and tearoom both have level access.

Contact:

telephone: 01787 247646

e-mail: lavenhamguildhall@nationaltrust.org.uk

web site: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lavenham/

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