Suffolk is home to some of England’s oldest and most extraordinary medieval timber-framed buildings. These ancient beauties may now be leaning precipitously, but they’re a tangible connection to a lost world – a time when East Anglia was the powerhouse of England, made wealthy by wool.
Suffolk’s so-called ‘Wool Towns’, including Lavenham, Long Melford, and Clare, were at the epicentre of East Anglia’s medieval cloth industry.
Toiling in their tiny cottages, workers and their families transformed raw fleeces into cloth. Their specialist skills in dyeing, spinning, weaving, and finishing meant the region became the focus for the booming woollen trade, which reached its peak in the 1400s.
Wealthy wool merchants gave generously to the Church and spent lavishly on their houses. With no decent local stone quarries, but an abundant supply of oak,…
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Discover Britain (Digital) - 1 Issue, October - November 2023