On a sunny day I love heading East on the A14. It's the route to the lovely countryside around Newmarket, walks in Thetford Forest, pleasure boats on the Norfolk Broads, the beautiful dune-strewn beaches of the Norfolk Coast and the old-fashioned charm of seaside towns such as Aldeburgh, Walberswick and Southwold in Suffolk. I'd have liked to have headed off to the coast with Monty but as Nigel is in the USA I thought I would stay a bit closer to home (needn't have bothered as I haven't seen Adam all afternoon anyway!). Anyway I haven't been to the beautiful Suffolk town of Lavenham in years and I thought it was about time I remedied that. Lavenham is a stunningly preserved Medieval town. It was a wool-making town specialising in a blue cloth 'Lavenham Blue' that was exported across Europe. In the 16th Century it became the 14th wealthiest town in the country and it's wealthy tradesmen paid enormous amounts in taxes. Then in 1525 Henry VIII's wars destroyed trade and the bubble burst. Unlike most towns the collapse in the wool trade was not replaced by other industry and the town became frozen in time. As well as the enormous church, which was built at the height of the town's prosperity, and can be seen from miles around there is a beautiful Guildhall and the whole town is like a stage set for a Medieval film. Unfortunately there is free parking all along the streets so it's really difficult to get a good photograph - mind you I was parked outside The Greyhound Pub so I was also a culprit!
I know Lavenham well! Great pov, such a magnificent 'wool' church. It does suffer from too many parked cars - from the point of view of a photographer anyway! Glad you had a nice day! Wonderful weather at last!
Magnificent church & set slightly on a hill makes it look very impressive. Thank you for the history of Lavenham...a beautiful name too , pity the can't resurrect that lovely blue wool, would be very sought after now by top designers.
I have the same problem with cars parking along the sides of the road in our local towns....spoils the picture completely!
Lovely shot and great info. I'm always fascinated by the history of the wool trade in the UK. Was in Painswick last year which has similar story of prosperity and collapse of its wool trade. So want to go back and travel around those gorgeous places again.
@ellida I was thinking of you taking this huge church - I was thinking you'd be able to stitch it together from separate shots - and then I realised they had a very generous path!
A lovely photograph of the church it looks very neat with all the shrubs along the path way & what a beautiful blue sky, btwy ou asked how I got the roses to last, well they do not last long.But the petals are not wasted when they drop I put them in the bottom of the rayburn to dry & they have another lease of life in dish
Spectacular shot! Do those shrubs all need to be trimmed like that I wonder? They are a lovely soft green contrast to the crisp gray lines. What a sky!
Judith I just saw this photo after clicking the 'Lavenham' tag - I'm in Lavenham today and my photo for today (26th June 2016) is in this exact same place! Hooray for this beautiful church and the history you've shared about the area is super interesting!
@izzyromilly Crumbs you went back a long way in project - I enjoyed reading it again myself. I think Lavenham may feature again somewhere but I can't remember where. Anyway thanks for the trip down memory lane - I remember that day very well!
June 27th, 2016
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
I have the same problem with cars parking along the sides of the road in our local towns....spoils the picture completely!