Black timber over white plaster lines the High Street and Church Street, in houses built mostly between 1450 and 1500.
What Lavenham looks like
The is a wide open square with cars parked across most of it. The Guildhall overlooks the square and was completed in 1529. The , a late 14th-century hall house, stands on the same square and is now a museum.
The stands on a hill at the top of the High Street. Timber-framed houses, some with jettied upper floors, line the street. The has a black hanging sign and flower baskets on its timber front.
The at 7 High Street was built in 1395 as part of a medieval hall house. Water Street and Church Street have the same kind of front, with black timber on white plaster and brick bases under some of them.
Pitched clay tile roofs run over most of the buildings, with brick chimneys rising from the ridges. Prentice Street has pink and cream cottages side by side, and some of them show timber under their plaster.
Medieval and Tudor buildings remain largely unmodified. The roads are asphalt with narrow footways, and parked cars line the High Street.
Shot in Lavenham
The 1968 film Witchfinder General staged its witch-burning scene in front of the Guildhall. The film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was shot in secret in January 2010, using the village streets as Godric's Hollow and dressing the Guildhall as the Potters' derelict house. The 1975 film Barry Lyndon used the Guildhall for its amputation scene, and the 1972 film The Canterbury Tales used it as the home of the Wife of Bath. A hot-air balloon was inflated on the snow-covered Market Place for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 18-minute short film Apotheosis in December 1969.
Witchfinder General, 1968
Guildhall, Market Place
The witch-burning scenes were staged in front of the Guildhall, which overlooks the square. The square is still open, with parked cars across most of it. Street View
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, 2010
Water Street
Played Godric's Hollow
The cinema release used De Vere House, which stands on this street, as a background for Godric's Hollow. Timber-framed houses on brick bases line the street, among them the Swan Hotel's range on Water Street. Street View
The Shambles is a narrow street of timber-framed houses with jettied floors that overhang the street by several feet. Many of its buildings date from about 1350 to 1475. The overhangs take sky out of a wide frame, so a street-level shot holds the illusion best. Lavenham's parked cars and asphalt need to be kept out of the frame. Try searching jettied timber framed street now.
Elm Hill is a historic cobbled lane in Norwich with many buildings from the Tudor period. A tight frame on its fronts can pass for a Lavenham street. The cobbles are the difference, so the shot should stay on the buildings and out of the road surface. Try searching Tudor cobbled lane now.
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