14th Century

In the 14th century (1300-1399) the Dragon Hall site was divided. One-half belonged to the Abbey of Woburn. A large flint and stone house stood here. There was also a long structure with a hearth which may have been used as a smoke house for herring. Monastic houses needed a regular supply of fish like herring. It was an important part of the diet and was eaten instead of meat on fast days.

A merchant named John Page occupied the other half of the site in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Around 1330 he improved his timber framed hall house. He added a service block (for storing  food and drink) and a brick vaulted undercroft. Page wanted to impress people. He used expensive materials like brick and stone in his house.

John Page's family lived in a large open hall. A sleeping chamber, or solar, provided private quarters at one end of the hall. Service rooms (pantry and buttery) lay at the other end. The footprint of the open hall survives and is now the meeting room.

The entire Dragon Hall site came into common ownership at the end of the 14th century under the Midday or Clere families, paving the way for the grand designs of Robert Toppes.