The Street, Lawshall

The Street is a linear settlement in the civil parish of Lawshall in the Babergh district in the county of Suffolk, England.

The settlement includes Swanfield, east of the Swan Public House and the small residential development of Hall Mead which is opposite All Saints Church.

[1] This fifteenth flint church is a Grade 1 Listed Building with stone dressings comprising a tall west tower, nave, aisles and a nineteenth-century chancel.

Part of the original wall is apparent at the north-west end of the front wing, with 2 small stone framed windows and a Tudor arched doorway.

[2] The Swan Inn is an 18th-century timber-framed and plastered building, previously with an L-shaped plan with a front extension at right angles to the road.

[2] It is not possible to provide a complete list of all the publicans (and residents) of the Swan or the verified dates when they took over or left the public house.

For example, on 11 April 1843 the Bury and Norwich Post reported that a fire broke out at Place Farm in Hartest and the engines from Chadacre and Lawshall attended.

Prompt assistance from the Lawshall and Chadacre fire engines saved the house"[11] In 1857 a large service was held in All Saints Church to celebrate the completion of restoration work including the rebuilding of the chancel.

Maintaining a similar theme, the traditional K6 red telephone box opposite Swanfield began enjoying a new lease of life in 2011 as a small book swap shop.

Where the old "telephone" logo once took pride of place at the top of the booth, the words "information" and "book swap shop" are now proclaimed in black letters on a white background.

The school has an average of 90 pupils and serves the settlements of Lawshall, Alpheton, Shimpling, Bridge Street and Hawstead.

The links with the pre-school are strong and allow children to start and continue their education on the same campus, enabling smooth transitions and the chance to build a real partnership between home, school and the community.

The general perception of the parish of Lawshall is a rural area where agriculture has remained the dominant and primary activity for hundreds of years.

[23] In the 1920s Canon Algernon Ogle Wintle, the rector of All Saints Church, set up a piano organ works and provided employment to many local people in the village in the depression years of the 1930s.

He had a workshop full of barrel pianos and ladies of the village used to trundle the organs up to his house, with the pins pulled out ready for him to put in the latest tunes.

All Saints Church in winter
Lawshall Hall
Lawshall Swan Public House
The Lawshall Swan sign in a snow-storm.
Re-use of red telephone box as a small book swap shop.
The Old Post Office
All Saints Primary School
Workshop premises in The Street