The village of Lawshall is a dispersed in nature with an extremely scattered distribution of houses and groups of houses. There are three main centres of settlement within the parish, these being The Street (the area around the Church and Village School extending towards Swanfield), Lambs Lane (including The Glebe, Shepherds Drive and Windsor Drive) and the linear development along Bury Road. In addition there are six small hamlets comprising Audley End, Hanningfield Green, Harrow Green, Hart's Green, Hibb's Green and Lawshall Green. The centre of the village is recognised as the area around All Saints Church and the Primary School.

The village was originally known as "Hlaw-gesella" which meant the shelter or hut on a hill or high ground. Early records indicate that in later years the name was recorded as "Laushella" (972), "Lawesselam" (1086), "Laveshel" (1095), "Laweshell" (1194) and "Laugesale" (1253). Other names identfied in the County of Suffolk records include Lausel, Lausele, Lausell, Lauselle, Laushalle, Laushill, Laushille, Laushull, Laushulle, Lausill, Lawcell, Laweshill, Laweshille, Lawishille, Lawsall, Lawschyll, Lawsele and Lawsell.

References:

1. Lawshall Village Appraisal Group, ed. (1991). Lawshall: Past, Present and Future – An Appraisal. Appraisal Group.
2. "County of Suffolk: its history as disclosed by existing records and other documents". Internet Archive - collected and edited by W.A. Retrieved 2012-02-10.