The timber-framed building was probably built around 1530 to serve as the hall of the Guild of Corpus Christi, founded in 1529. At the time Lavenham was extremely wealthy, thanks to the cloth industry, but when fortunes in the town declined, large timber buildings like this one became too expensive to maintain. In the 17th and 18th centuries the hall was used as a jail before becoming a workhouse and almshouse. It was then restored around 1911 by Sir Cuthbert Quilter and is now owned by the National Trust.
This photograph was withdrawn from the open Red Box Collection for conservation reasons during the 2011-2012 Red Box Project.
The photograph was received by the National Buildings Record in February 1941.
This is part of the Series: RBO01/38 Early Photographic Print Collection: Suffolk; within the Collection: RBO01 Early Photographic Print Collection
Source: Historic England Archive
Photographer: Gotch, John Alfred
Tudor Guildhall