Lavenham Church Tower : 500 years old in 2025

A Brief History

Rebuilding Lavenham church began following the Tudor victory at Bosworth in 1485. John de Vere, Lord of the Manor of Lavenham and Earl of Oxford was a supporter of King Henry VII, and his Captain General at Bosworth. Rebuilding the church was his idea to celebrate Henry’s victory and the defeat of Richard III. John de Vere asked the wealthy cloth merchants of Lavenham to help fund the rebuilding and chief among the merchants was Thomas Spring II. He died in 1486, leaving in his will £200 towards building the tower. His son Thomas III continued the rebuilding works, with the tower being completed in 1525.

One of the master masons who worked on the rebuilding of the tower and the church was John Wastell . He was the leading master mason of his time. Other significant works by him include completion of the chapel at King’s College Cambridge , and the central tower of Canterbury Cathedral, plus works at Peterborough and Manchester Cathedrals. He also worked on the central tower of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, now lost, but probably similar to that at Canterbury. The new tower at Bury Cathedral was inspired by Canterbury, which creates a sort of spiritual / historic link between our Cathedral and Lavenham church!

'King Henry VIII was king when the tower was completed.

The church tower is unusually tall at 43 metres, and dominates the local landscape. Its history has both national and local significance. It is decorated with the stars and shields of the de Veres and the merchant marks of the Springs. It contains 8 beautiful sounding bells, and a clock. A spiral staircase leads all the way onto the roof, from where there are spectacular views of the countryside all around.

While the De Vere family line ended in the 1700s, there are modern descendants of the Spring family, both in Suffolk, Canada and the USA.