Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Guildhall (Thaxted)

The Guildhall is the best known building in the historic little town of Thaxted in Essex.

Sometimes known as the Moot Hall, this was built in the 15th century, and added to in the early years of the 17th century.

It was the hall of the Cutlers' Guild, representing a trade that flourished in Thaxted in the Middle Ages.

The Guildhall is freestanding on three sides, facing Town Street, one of the main roads leading into the town. The road forks here, with more very attractive buildings behind and up the hill.

The ground floor is open, providing a space for market stalls, as at Market Harborough, and there are two jettied, or oversailing, upper stories.

The first floor was used as the cutlers' hall and the second floor as the Town Hall. Each floor is thus larger in area than the floor below.

The Guildhall is a timber framed building, but, while very picturesque, it no longer gives quite such a traditional view as it should. The tradition in Essex and Suffolk is to plaster over the timber frame, but in about 1920 the plasterwork was taken off.

Photographs of the Guildhall appear in many a book.

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