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Paycockes

Most people associate industrial society with nineteenth century cities and towns. East Anglia's wool trade, however, encouraged cloth production on an industrial scale from the late fourteenth century onwards. A town like Lavenham in Suffolk produced huge quantities of cloth, with early moves towards division of labour seen in later industrial concerns. So important was wool in the economy of fourteenth and fifteenth century England that since the reign of Edward the Third in the fourteenth century, the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords has sat on a symbolic wool sack. Evidence of the fortunes made in the wool trade can be seen at Paycockes in Coggeshall in Essex. This merchants house, built around the beginning of the fifteenth century, has intricate woodwork and panelling. It was owned by the Paycocke family, wool merchants who clearly wanted to show off their wealth.

The house is now owned by the National Trust and houses a display of the lace products traditionally produced in Coggeshall.

Opening Hours: 23rd of March to 12th of October, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and Bank Holiday Mondays, 2pm - 5pm. Last admission 4.30pm.

Directions: Coggeshall is off the A120 in Essex, east of Braintree. Paycockes is in West Street, in the centre of the village, with off-street parking available half a mile away at Grange Barn on the B1024 just south of the village. Click here for an interactive map centred on Paycocke's.

Access: A ramp is available to allow wheelchairs to negotiate the entrance. The ground floor is accessible, but there are stairs to the second floor. There are no toilets at the property.

Contact:

telephone: 01376 561305

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