Market Hill
Visit Framlingham Trail
Market Hill
With a market held here since 1285, the triangular Hill is home to a fascinating panorama of buildings, shops and cafés, as well as weekly Saturday and Tuesday markets. Many of the stylish, historical façades disguise even older interiors, whilst the town sign (forged by Master Blacksmith, Hector Moore, in 1991) reveals a handful of the treasures to be found on the trail.
Location
Continue your Trail
Scroll right to head north-west along Bridge Street to the Old Court House and Unitarian Meeting House towards Well Close Square, or south down Queen’s Head Alley to Fore Street.
Scroll left to head east along Church Street, to St Michael’s Church and Regency House towards Framlingham Castle.
Market Hill
YOU ARE HERE
— Where to next? —
Take a Closer Look
Centuries ago, fairs took place in English churchyards and church porches witnessed both business deals and marriages. The trading hub lines between church and market were blurred. In Framlingham the raised the Guildhall separates the two. On Market Hill’s three sides architectural traces of banks, inns, garages and more share tales of its trading past.
The Guildhall
Climb the steps up to the Guildhall which sits above the market place on its terrace. Take a closer look at its ‘brickwork’. Notice anything odd? Keen to update their 200 year old timber-framed building, cunning 18th century Framlingham folk used brick-effect mathematical tiles hung on battens to create a fashionable Queen Anne-style façade.
The Crown Hotel
The Crown Hotel dates from 1553 – the year Mary Tudor left Framlingham Castle for London to claim the throne! It is reputedly Suffolk’s oldest coaching inn. The Tudor inn hides behind an 18th century front. Its ornate old gas lamp once hung above an open archway.
Framlingham’s First Bank
The red brick building with carved faces next to the Crown Hotel (now Two Magpies Bakery) is the town’s first purpose-built bank (1855). The building’s early banking history was rather chequered, so in 1897, new owners (Barclays) decided that it needed a change of face – literally. The new false frontage was the ultimate cover-up!
Old Lloyds Bank
Look out for the stylish façade of the old Lloyds Bank with its beehive carving. The shops to its left replaced Potters garage and car showroom. Until WWI, the little island of shops nearby was Coleman’s the bootmakers.
