Lavenham houses: an architectural mistake that has become a landmark (12 photos + 2 videos)

A village located about 100 kilometers from London. And by concurrent community in Suffolk. that draws attention tourists from all over the world with an old church and old half-timbered houses with a very non-standard geometry.







What is so unusual about this locality? Most of the buildings in it is crooked and skewed so much that you involuntarily want them support so as not to collapse. Some in an attempt to remain resilient they even push against each other like jagged teeth in a mouth.





Lavenham founded a community of wool merchants. And in the period of 15-16 centuries the town was widely known for its quality blue woolen cloth, prospered and actively replenished the state treasury with taxes. Moreover, ahead of large cities such as York or Lincoln.








The local church of Saints Peter and Paul, according to some sources, is considered the most tall religious building in the British countryside (43 meters).






But how did it happen that most of the buildings in the village are curves? The fact is that due to the rapid and intensive growth medieval city, many houses were built at the same time. And for this dry wood was used. As the material dries, the wood bent, sometimes at completely unpredictable angles.



But the golden age of the center of the cloth industry did not last. forever: competitors appeared in the neighborhood whose products were more lightweight and affordable. For a while life in the village froze, but then the residents guessed to use a non-standard architecture to their own advantage and turned Lavenham into a center of tourism, which is visited by tourists from different countries.








By the way, the spirit of poetry is still alive and hovering somewhere on these twisted streets. Since the poetess Jane was a native of Lavenham Taylor, who wrote the poem "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". It is by can rightly be considered the main English-language lullaby.