Lavenham

Last weekend, the first weekend in February, we took a bus to Lavenham via Sudbury.Lavenham is a medieval Suffolk Wool Town, based on the Textile industry of Flemish craftsmen who were encouraged to settle here in 1334. While there is a lot of New England in Lavenham, it, more than any other English village has been able to retain its original character, even to the near collapsing looking buildings. However infirm and unstable they appear, these 'falling down' buildings are as strong as the day they were built. Some are mis-shapen because the mortar and sand base on which they were built has collapsed into the soil; others appear strangely crooked because they were built using 'green' wood which, when it dried out, contracted and in the process took the buildings' shape for a ride. Interestingly, any new housing built alongside or near to the original buildings, has been constructed 'in sympathy' with its immediate environment with deliberately crooked facades, or, as we saw in another example, with deliberately crooked windows and window sills. Taking photos today was a bit of an effort: Air Temp 1 degree C with a bitingly cold wind blowing down from west to east from the Arctic. The hands baulked at leaving the pockets let alone the gloves.