Lavenham is a beautiful large village in rural Suffolk, away from main roads yet not far from Bury St Edmunds. The village enjoys over 320 buildings of historic significance including magnificent timber framed dwellings constructed by wealthy wool and cloth merchants.

In 2025 we mark the 500th anniversary of the completion of the church tower of St Peter & St Paul’s parish church, Lavenham. The programme of celebratory events includes concerts, a talk by Philippa Langley on the ‘Princes in the Tower’ and a family fun day with a teddy bear zip line.

Lavenham initially benefitted from being on the direct route from London to what were once England’s largest ports, King’s Lynn and Dunwich. It also benefitted from being half way between London and what was at one time England’s second largest city, Norwich. These facts enabled development of a prosperous wool and cloth trade from as early as the 13th century through which the local merchants became very wealthy. The wealth of the wool and cloth merchants derived from the production of ‘blew’ cloth – Lavenham Blue – which was exported as far away as Russia and resulted during the 14th and 15th centuries in Lavenham becoming one of the wealthiest settlements in England, for a while paying more tax than larger towns such as Lincoln and York. So well dressed in gorgeous finery were some of the townspeople that on a visit not long after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth, Henry VII fined them for displaying too much wealth: in his view they had broken sumptuary laws which dictated who could wear what and were drawn up to help maintain what was perceived to be the correct social order. For example, only the king could wear purple.

It is very likely that during his visit to Lavenham, Henry VII’s host would have been John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford. John de Vere was one of the principal Lancastrian commanders during the Wars of the Roses. John’s ancestor, Aubrey de Vere was granted estates and land in and around Lavenham by William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the family had remained there ever since. Lavenham stood firm for the Lancastrians but at times had to hide its support. Instead of Red Roses supporters wore Swans in secret. The Swan Inn in Lavenham depicts the symbol of Lancastrian Margaret of Anjou, and blue boars were placed above doors which could be claimed to be for Richard III but were in fact for John de Vere. John de Vere, and his vanguard of veterans from Lavenham led Lancastrian armies to victory at Stoke, Blackheath and Bosworth.

After the Battle of Bosworth, the village enjoyed a period of considerable prosperity and expansion which included not only the wonderful timber-framed buildings and a total of five guildhalls, but also the parish church of St Peter & St Paul which was rebuilt and given a new tower in honour of Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York. The church’s extension and new tower were funded by six wealthy local families including the Spring family and John de Vere, who became one of Henry VII’s and Henry VIII’s most loyal subjects.

Lavenham’s parish church is one of the most important wool churches in England. The building is of flint construction and is decorated with the coats-of-arms of the families who funded its construction. The Spring family’s coat-of-arms appears over thirty times on the exterior of the building while the star of the de Vere family surrounds the top tower. Less well known is that, also depicted in flint, around the base of the incredibly tall and massive tower are images of the Tudor Rose of Henry VII. The massive tower, which stands an incredible 141 feet / 43 metres tall was completed in 1525.