A Wool town is a name given to towns and villages, particularly in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

and north Essex, that were the centre of the woven cloth industry in the Middle Ages. They came to prominence when weavers from Flanders settled in the area, having been displaced by what came to be known as the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

. Up to that time the English wool trade with the rest of Europe was mostly in the form of the export of raw wool. However, exports of woven cloth quickly replaced the export of raw wool (the latter being heavily taxed by Edward III to help finance the war) and those engaged in the trade began to amass great wealth. This wealth in Suffolk wool towns is marked by the beauty of large churches known as wool churches built from the prosperity of the wool trade: Long Melford’s

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

“is one of the most moving parish churches in England, large, proud and noble”, “so many thin, wiry perpendiculars”. Lavenham’s St Peter & St Paul “is a match for Long Melford, “a perfect picture”.

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

’s church of the same name: “all the windows of aisles and clerestory…are slender and closely set…. the same erectness…very airy”. Hadleigh’s St Mary “Churchyard contains the town’s most spectacular buildings, and if one treats the church as essentially C15, then those three buildings belong to the same century but could hardly be more different from one another: one built of stone, one of timber, and one of brick. The Market Hall….the church…the Deanery Tower.” Several of the towns in East Anglia that were prosperous during the peak of the English wool trade have retained many of their medieval buildings: Clare “now an exceptionally attractive small town”, Long Melford “a rich legacy” with “two fine Tudor mansions”; Lavenham “rightly celebrated”, “There is nothing in Suffolk to compete with the timber-framed houses of Lavenham”, Hadleigh's “High Street is remarkable for having retained nearly all of its oldest buildings unspoilt while remaining busy and commercial”.Ibid Op.cit. p279 The term has also been used to refer to other towns involved in the wool trade. ''The English Wool Market, c.1230–1327'' includes York, Boston,

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

and

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

in the group, and it has also been applied to towns in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

and Yorkshire.

References

{{Reflist Woollen industry East Anglia