Since the Gayer-Anderson brothers arrived in Lavenham, Little Hall has been through a succession of changes, and especially in the face it presents to the Market Place.
This may be the earliest view we have. It is from the Lingard collection and may be before the Gayer-Andersons took over the properties. Note the narrower windows in the north wing of Little Hall compared with 1920s pictures. At this time the Great House is covered in pebbledash but Little Hall is plain plaster. We think this was taken in 1924. Little Hall now has the same pebbledash finish as the Great House.
This is from the Lingard collection. The pebledash has been stripped off the hall and south wing. The north wing doorway has been blocked off. The north wing has the same wider windows on ground and first floor as in 1924 but with an additional window in the gable. By this time it may be that the Colonel was living in that wing (as he was from 1930) and wanted more light.We assume this is the next stage of restoration, removing the pebbledash from the north wing. This has revealed the previously covered shallow window to the right of the first floor main window.This is dated 1935 which is the year that the Gayer-Andersons fully took over Little Hall and vacated The Great House. The north and south wing jetties have been restored and windows have been restored to Tudor. We only have black and white photos from this time but we do have a coloured drawing from the Colonel, in what he named the Window Book. This shows at least what he envisaged to be the colour of the render. Little Hall in wartime, from the Colonel’s album. This is from a newspaper picture showing TV filming in 1953. The Colonel would have been living here at that time. In 1967 Little Hall was used as a set for the film Witchfinder General. This still is the first colour photo we have. The Brills would have been living here, possibly at the end of the time that students came. This is probably the colour that Colonel Gayer-Anderson left it, but is very faded in comparison with the yellow in the Window Book. In October 1970 Little Hall appears to be much the same as the previous picture.
The picture above was probably taken around 1980, showing the colour, close to the Window Book shade.
Some photos were taken in about 1990 for the museum catalogue. Strangely, this seems different from those taken previously and subsequently. This photo was probably taken in 2005. This photo was taken about the same time and indicates a different shade of colouring, one that is more consistent with the following photo. This was August 2007, the last year of this colouring. We don’t know of a repainting since the previous picture of the street front so the variation may be in the photographic process, and/or the quality of daylight. In 2008 the colouring had a significant change with limewash covering the timbers as well as the render panels. The finish to the timbers was brushed off to maintain a texture differentiating it from the render.
Patrick Taylor, a Conservation Architect, wrote in 2008:
The previous colour scheme with ochre render panels and white framing was unusual in Suffolk, if not unique with its effectively ‘negative’ take on the norm. However it was not traditional to do this: paint studies on old buildings have shown a preference for the use of a single colour and this traditional method has recently been applied to good effect on Hadleigh and Lavenham Guildhalls, both Grade I listed buildings. The current redecoration following the repairs at Little Hall is thus a pure limewash, with the first coats watered down and sufficient subsequent coats to cover, all in one colour to follow historical precedent and avoid any jointing between colours. The result is thus more historically correct and should weather better requiring less future maintenance.
This was taken in April 2021 after the latest repainting. The limewash is from the same supplier, Ingilby, to the same formula as used in 2008.
1 thought on “The Changing Face of Little Hall”
mrs margaret hugill
We visited Lavenham on the 24th and 25th July and was disappinted to read that it was closed. May i suggest dates. times. prices of opening on the board outside the building..
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We visited Lavenham on the 24th and 25th July and was disappinted to read that it was closed. May i suggest dates. times. prices of opening on the board outside the building..