"Just Passing Through" Top 5 Page for this destination Suffolk by Bwana_Brown

Suffolk Travel Guide: 444 reviews and 945 photos

Half-Timber Houses from the 1400's - Suffolk

It was a Saturday morning when we finally struck off northward from the Colchester area of Essex, beginning our 3-day meandering excursion before we had any other accommodations waiting for us. One of the first towns that we encountered was Lavenham, an historic site that greatly prospered from its wool trading in the 1400's. The rich merchants built many large half-timber houses with plaster fill-in, many of these with weirdly slanting appearances! The prosperity of the town faltered badly in the late 1500's when Dutch refugees in the Colchester area began weaving a superior product. The rapid collapse of Lavenham's trade led to many of these historic buildings just being left in their unaltered original state. Although we stopped and walked around the town, we did not really get as many good photos as we would have liked because of the automobile parking and congestion on this busy Saturday morning. For the next stage of our journey, please take a look at my Cambridgeshire page! Alternatively, you can check out my Surrey page to see how it all started.

Pros and Cons

Pros:A great place to start our countryside ramblings!

Last visit to Suffolk: Feb 2004
Intro Updated Mar 7, 2004
Add to Trip Planner (?)
Report Abuse

Reviews (3)

The Abbey Gate at Bury St. Edmunds - Suffolk

The Abbey Gate Things to Do (2)

We were not very well organized on this trip, so we stopped in Bury St. Edmunds to see if we could find any tourist... more travel advice

Sue by a Large Half-Timbered House - Suffolk

Crooked House in Lavenham Things to Do (2)

This is a photo of one of the large half-timbered houses that we came across. There were many more of these houses... more travel advice

Not Quite a Traditional Pub Restaurants (1)

It was about 12:30 and we were nearing Bury St. Edmunds when we spotted this fine looking establishment beside the road.... more travel advice

Have you been to Suffolk? Share your travels with the world!

Comments (10)

TheWanderingCamel Nov 10, 2008 at 5:01 AM Report Abuse

Spent a lovely weekend in Bury St Edmunds on our latest trip to Engand. What a nice town it is.
richiecdisc Jun 2, 2007 at 5:41 PM Report Abuse

Nothing like a real English pub, Glenn. Next time, try Adnams, Suffolk's pride and joy.
matcrazy1 Mar 15, 2006 at 3:13 PM Report Abuse

Great info and this Crooked House in Lavenham looks very interesting.
JLBG Jan 14, 2006 at 2:03 PM Report Abuse

Superb half timbered houses. It is amazing how it looks like Normandy !
iandsmith Jan 12, 2005 at 1:04 AM Report Abuse

Excellent info. Shame you didn't have time to see more.
sim1 Apr 26, 2004 at 1:28 PM Report Abuse

Those old houses are so picturesque! I didn't know about the ground-floor taxes, so great to read all about these little things. It makes the place come more alive.
herzog63 Apr 2, 2004 at 6:05 AM Report Abuse

Love those half-timbered houses!! What a beautiful town!!
acemj Mar 23, 2004 at 6:47 PM Report Abuse

Gotta love a waiter who makes things a bit less complicated. The Abbey looks like it was worth the quick trip.
craic Mar 21, 2004 at 4:04 AM Report Abuse

Well, they are very quaint and beautiful, those old houses. And they are still standing.
Canadienne Mar 12, 2004 at 4:40 AM Report Abuse

I love the houses in Lavenham - very quaint! I hadn't heard about gound-floor taxes before. . .that could lead to some very odd looking homes. :-)