Lavenham Guildhall is a timber-framed municipal building in

Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Guildhall, Little Hall, 15th-century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walks. In the medie ...

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 ...

, England. It is

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

By the late 14th century, Lavenham was at the centre of the East Anglian woollen cloth trade. Its specialised production of woad-dyed broadcloth, known as Lavenham Blue, had made it one of the richest towns in England. This wealth was the catalyst for four guilds being established in the town by the local merchant families: the most important of these was the Guild of Corpus Christi formed in 1529. The guild established their guildhall at around that time; the design made extensive use of

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of increasing the availa ...

timber framing Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

and featured a gabled porch projecting from the centre of the building on the north-west elevation. With the decline of the woollen cloth trade and Lavenham's prosperity, the guildhall's role changed. By 1689, the guildhall was in use as a

bridewell Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correc ...

, and from 1787 it was used as a

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

. Prison cells and mortuary buildings were established in the area behind the guildhall in 1833. In 1887, the guildhall was acquired by Sir Cuthbert Quilter, a local

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. He soon started restoring the building, but this was only completed in around 1911. The building was used as a social club for American troops stationed nearby and also as a

British Restaurant British Restaurants were communal kitchens created in 1940 during the Second World War to help people who had been bombed out of their homes, had run out of ration coupons or otherwise needed help. In 1943, 2,160 British Restaurants served 600,0 ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and, in 1946, Sir William Quilter gave it to the people of Lavenham. It became the property of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 1951 and it was subsequently opened to the public as a local history museum. Inside the guildhall, in addition to exhibits presenting the evolution of the guildhall from cloth trade to workhouse, there is a display of memorabilia associated with Lavenham railway station, which was a stop on the Long Melford–Bury St Edmunds branch line before it closed in 1961.

Notes

References

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External links

Lavenham Guildhall
- National Trust Buildings and structures completed in 1529 Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk National Trust properties in Suffolk Guildhalls in the United Kingdom Local museums in Suffolk Timber framed buildings in Suffolk Lavenham