Early records

The earliest documentary record for the village dates from approximately 972AD. However, it seems highly probable that there was a settlement within the parish well before this time. The present centre of the village is unlikely to have been the site of the original settlement as the basic requirement for a reliable supply of water would have precluded the area around the church. Hanningfield Green has been suggested as a stronger possibility for the site of the original Bronze Age settlement but another location could have been somewhere along the Chad Brook although none of the early records gives the exact location. Morley suggests that the original settlement place was beside the stream near Coldham Hall.

The earliest evidence of man in the parish can be identified in the now nearly ploughed out Warbanks which were certainly pre-Roman and may have been an earlier defence system. A late Bronze Age sword (now in the Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds) was found on the site of the Warbanks and has been dated as 800-600BC and could give a clue to the age of the bank.

Around 972 Alwinus, son of Bricius, was Lord of the Manor. Alwinus joined the monastery of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire and surrendered his manor to the Abbot. This was duly recorded in the Ramsey Chronicle and represents the first documentary evidence of Laushella (Lawshall). The land was to remain with the Ramsey Abbey until about 1534.

References:

1. Lawshall Village Appraisal Group, ed. (1991). Lawshall: Past, Present and Future - An Appraisal. Appraisal Group.
2. Mel Birch, ed. (2004). Suffolk's Ancient Sites - Historic Places. Mendlesham, Suffolk: Castell Publishing. p. 239. ISBN 094813450X.