1257: Market charter granted

1275: Visit of Edward the First (1239—1307), eldest son of Henry III.

1329: Earl of Oxford & his tenants granted exemption from tolls on goods produced

1440: Death of Thomas Spring I

1486: Death of Thomas Spring II

1487: Visit of Henry VII

1501: William Jacob's Market Cross erected

1523: Death of Thomas Spring III

1525: Uprising by 4000 workers protesting against high taxation and unemployment

1529: Guildhall of Corpus Christi constructed

1545-1547: Catholic religious gilds abolished

1604: The de Veres sell their estates in Lavenham to Thomas Skinner, a London merchant

1647: Grammar School established in Barn Street

1699: 1st wave of smallpox comes to Lavenham: 27 die.

1712 - 1713: Smallpox outbreak: 282 die.

1818: Lavenham is 3rd poorest parish in Suffolk

1833: Town lock-up built in grounds of Corpus Christi Guildhall

1861: British school built in the Market Place

1863: Gas works built in Water Street

1865: Thomas Baker builds steam-driven flour mill off Prentice Street

1868: James Duncan builds sugar beet factory on Lower Road

1871: Sugar beet factory closes, reopening a few years later

1875: Laycock's horsehair factory established in Barn Street

1879: Demolition of the Guildhall of the Holy Trinity (Prentice Street)

1890: Sugar beet factory finally closes

1896: Demolition of the Guildhall of St Peter & St Paul (High Street)

1898: Huffey's blacksmith established in Water Street

1905: Sugar beet factory destroyed by fire

1908: Oddy's horsehair factory established in Brent Eleigh Road

1911: Demolition of The Wool Hall, Lady Street, begins

1928: Visit of HM Queen Mary, wife of George V

1934: Electricity comes to Lavenham

1936: Mains water installed

1938: Demolition of the clay lump cottages in the Market Place

1943: Lavenham airfield built

1946: William Cuthbert Quilter (the younger) gifts the Guildhall to the people of Lavenham

1948: Lavenham airfield closed

1960s: Spring Lane Housing built

1965: Demolition of the British School in the Market Place

1968: A scene for the film 'Witchfinder General' filmed in the market place

1968: A scene for John Lennon & Yoko Ono's film 'Apotheosis' filmed in the market place

1980: Howard Marks, drug smuggler, arrested in the Airmen's Bar in the Swan Hotel

1994: Lovejoy's last TV episode 'Last Tango in Lavenham' filmed

1996: Visit of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Lavenham Church

2005: Visit of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall