Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LAVENHAM

LAVENHAM, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Cosford district, Suffolk. The town stands in the valley of the river Brett, on the Bury-ST. Edmunds and Sudbury railway, 10½ miles SSE of Bury-ST. Edmnnds; consists of several small streets, mostly with old houses; has a spacious market-place, with a stone cross in the centre; is a polling place; and has a post office‡ under Sudbury, a railway station, a church, Independent and Wesleyan chapels, national and British schools, a free grammar school, thirty alms houses, and charities £450-The church is later English, of stone and flint; measures 180 feet by 68; and has a very fine steeple 141 feet high, a fine porch, a carved roof, and stained windows. The Independent chapel was enlarged in 1865. A weekly market was formerly held on Tuesday; and fairs are still held on Shrove-Tuesday and 10 Oct. The manufacture of blue cloths, serges, and other woollen stuffs, was formerly carried on; and now there is a manufactory for horse hair seatings and cocoa-nut-fibre. Richard de Lavenham, who was killed by Wat Tyler's mob, Ruggle, the author of "Ignoramus, " and Lord Mayor Cooke were natives.—The parish comprises 2, 887 acres. Real property, £7, 015. Pop., 1,823. Houses, 413. The manor was given, by William the Conqueror, to Robert Malet; and passed to the De Veres and others. Lavenham Hall is the seat of W. R. Scott, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, £850.* Patron, Cains College, Cambridge.—The sub-district contains fourteen parishes. Acres, 27, 110. Pop., 7, 742. Houses, 1, 743


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Lavenham AP/CP       Lavenham SubD       Cosford RegD/PLU       Suffolk AncC
Place: Lavenham

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