Famed Artist John Constable’s Former School Has Hit The Market

A tale of two rivals: John Constable and JMW Turner. One, the rebelliously naturalist landscape painter famed for immortalising Suffolk’s rugged flat plains and tumultuous clouds in broad coarse stroaks. The other, the Royal Academy’s darling, the Alpine adventurer, famed for his washy watercolours, sun-soaked hues and dramatic coastal crashes.

Currently the clashing stars of the Turner & Constable: Rivals & Originals exhibition at the Tate Britain, this new exhibit has brought the creative competitiveness of these two artists firmly into the spotlight. Dubbed ‘fire and water’ (Tate the former, Constable the latter) by contemporary critics, in 1832 Turner upstaged Constable when he dabbed a last minute dash of red paint to his own canvas before the Royal Academy showcase was unveiled. Bringing attention away from Constable’s own red and vibrant work, he remarked that Turner had ‘fired a gun’.

Where Turner was born and raised in London, John Constable was ever-loyal to his Suffolk village of East Bergholt – continuing to paint the area even after his move to Hampstead. Sat close to the Essex border in the green swathe of the Dedham Vale, East Bergholt and its surrounding environs drew Constable’s brush to canvas again and again, its mills, fields and rivers continuously caught from new angles and vantages, the same scene rehashed across varying scales and tones to bring his vision most perfectly to life. 

While Constable’s childhood home no longer exists, you can still visit the dedicated National Trust site in the nearby Flatford, from which you can explore the scene of his most famed painting: The Hay Wain – the starring Willy Lott’s Cottage sitting just at the end of the very same lane. If, however, you do want to get one step closer to the artist and the area he loved so dearly, his former school in the nearby village of Lavenham has just hit the market.

John Constable’s School Is On The Market As A Tudor Village Home

If the wonky Tudor beams and groaning eaves of Lavenham look familiar, you may recognise this quaint Suffolk spot from the Harry Potter films. The nearby De Vere House starred as Godric’s Hollow in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) – the home of Harry’s parents, Lily and James, and the site where they were tragically killed by Voldemort. 

However, Harry Potter is not Lavenham’s only claim to fame. One of the finest Medieval settlements in Britain (with its drunken slats and wobbly walls very much still intact), the village also boasts a famous former pupil in the form of John Constable. 

Originally a wool merchant’s house, The Old Grammar School (then known as Lavenham Grammar School) operated from 1647 to 1887. Constable enrolled in 1777 as a full boarder at age 11, but it seems that the school didn’t hold happy memories for the artistic alumnus. He complained of receiving ‘unwarranted beatings’ from the teachers and his parents eventually pulled him out and placed him in the nearby Royal Grammar School in Dedham (also now transformed into a family home) as a day boy instead. Though trained in calligraphy and drawing, it was the walks over the Suffolk fields through to the Essex village that fed his desire to capture the Dedham Vale’s beauty.

Step Inside

Less lopsided than many of its neighbours – at the comparatively young and uncrippled age of 500 years – this Grade I listed house was among the last of the great merchant houses to be built before the collapse of Lavenham’s once rich wool and cloth industry. The acclaimed historian Leigh Alston even described The Old Grammar School as ‘the finest merchant’s house in Lavenham’.

Following a period of near dereliction, in the mid 1990s it was sensitively restored into its current four-bedroom configuration, with contemporary features working alongside the original period details, including ancient beams and carvings. Arranged across three floors, the home boasts two reception rooms, a kitchen and wine cellar in the lower portion of the house. Meanwhile, upstairs features four bedrooms, as well as a garden with a garage and home office space outside. 

On the market for £1.1m. Find out more at davidburr.co.uk