Please login or click here to join.
Forgot Password? Click Here to reset pasword
Water Street houses This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
Lady Street This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
Market Place This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's, Copinger Memorial The large memorial on the North wall of the sanctuary commemorates Lavenham's longest-serving pastor, who was Rector for over 44 years (1578-1622). Henry Copinger sprang from an ancient Suffolk family and was a great grandson of the younger Spring. Copinger was a scholar and a puritan. This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's Church The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul at Lavenham is one of the last great Suffolk wool churches to be built before the Reformation. This outstanding example of late medieval architecture was begun around 1486 and finished around 1525, just before the religious upheaval of the Reformation changed the course of ecclesiastical and social history. Like other great Suffolk churches of the period, Lavenham was built by local merchants who made their fortunes in the woollen cloth industry. The major benefactors of Lavenham's church were John de Vere, the 13th Earl of Oxford and lord of Lavenham manor, and three generations of local merchants named Thomas Spring (generally known as Thomas Spring I, II and III). This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 1 person has added this picture to their favourites |
St Peter and St Paul's churchyard This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's Church roof The roof dates from the 1860s and replaces a hammer beam roof. This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's Church stained-glass window This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's Church stained-glass window This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's Church nave The man most likely responsible for implementing this grand vision in stone was John Wastell, whose work appears in many East Anglian churches, including St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Wastell left the chancel of the existing 14th century church mostly intact, but the rest is a superb monument, and one of the best examples of late Perpendicular style in the country. This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's Church altar This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's Church One story about the rebuilding of the church bears repeating - though goodness knows how much truth there is in it. According to this tale, John de Vere was one of the most influential followers of Henry, Earl of Richmond, in his struggle with Richard III. De Vere helped Richmond defeat the king at the Battle of Bosworth and take the throne as Henry VII, the first of the Tudors. After the defeat of Richard III, de Vere suggested to the townsfolk of Lavenham that they might like to rebuild their old parish church in grand style to give thanks for the Tudor victory. The wealthy merchants agreed, and work began in 1486. So, do we owe this wonderful building to a town's gratitude for the victory of Henry VII at Bosworth? It seems a trifle unlikely, and a rather simplistic explanation, but it makes a good story. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's bench end Carved animals at the 600 years old oak bench ends were badly defaced in the time of the Reformation. This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's 14th century font This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
St Peter and St Paul's figures at the South Porch This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
Medieval misericords This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
Branch Chapel stained-glass window The great East window showing the Crucifixion of our Lord was the gift of the Revd. Joseph Croker in 1861. This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
Church Street post box This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
Crooked House It is from Lavenham comes another familiar phase, from a nursery rhyme, “there was a crooked man, who lived in a crooked house”. The Crooked House can be found in High Street, the road which originally joined the manors of Overhall and Netherhall, the first two manors of the de Veres. It is one of Lavenham's more famous landmarks, and often features in pictures of the town. Built in 1425, it is now an art gallery featuring a variety of local artists, jewellers and sculptors. This picture appears in the following picture tours: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |
de Vere House door-way A magnificent front door-way, with its carved huntsmen (dating back to the early 15th century) and the heraldic symbols of John de Vere, the 13th earl of Oxford. This picture appears in the following picture tour: Camera Make: SONY Model: DSC-W200 |