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Historic Buildings of Suffolk
England
Image right - Kentwell Hall, Long Melford
Image Creative Commons License 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Flickr John Fielding
See Historic Buildings of Britain and Ireland - Main Page
The object of this project is to provide information about historic buildings in the county of Suffolk, with links to sub-projects for specific buildings as appropriate. GENi profiles of people associated with those establishments can be linked to this project and/or to individual projects where they have been set up.
If you have information about any of the Buildings mentioned below please share it here. If you have ancestors linked to any of the places please add them to the project.
Historic houses in alphabetical order
Including Castles, Abbeys, Priories, Manor Houses, Mansions, Stately Homes, Country houses, Estate houses, Courts, Halls, Parks and other listed buildings of historic interest.
Full sizes of the thumbnail images can be seen in the Gallery attached to the project or by clicking the thumbnail image. TIP - Use ctrl+the link to open the image in a separate tab, or use "back" to return to this project page) Sources for the images can be found in the image details as seen in the gallery.
Names with Bold links are to Geni profiles or projects. Other links take you to external biographical web pages. Please copy and paste the bullet used - ● - instead of * when adding items to the list.
A
● Abbas Hall
● 
Abbots Hall, Stowmarket
Image by Martinevans123 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wiki Commons
The name ‘Abbot’s Hall’ originated in the 12th century when King Henry II granted the manor of Stowmarket to the Abbey of St Osyth in Essex. Following the Abbey’s dissolution in 1539, a variety of families went on to own the estate.
Today’s Queen Anne style house was built in 1709 by Charles Blosse, a local gentleman and merchant.
The museum was awarded a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to renovate Abbot's Hall and Crowe Street Cottages. The project was completed in April 2012, and officially opened in June 2012. There are nine exhibition spaces exploring ideas of home and belonging in East Anglia, as well as space for temporary exhibitions. Crowe Street Cottages, which were occupied by workers at Abbot's Hall, have been displayed as they would have looked when the last owner lived there.
Abbot's Hall is open year round, providing a permanent centrepiece to the museum. The Hall features a permanent exhibition of the life and works of Welsh folklorist George Ewart Evans.
● Ampton Hall
● Ancient House, Clare
● Ancient House, Ipswich
● Angel Corner
B
● Bawdsey Manor
● Benacre Hall
● Benhall Lodge
● Bidenly Hall
● Boulge Hall (demolished)
● Brampton Hall
● Bredfield House (demolished)
● Bridge Cottage
● Brightwell Hall (demolished)
● Manor of Byng
C
● Christchurch Mansion
● Cliff Brewery, Ipswich The building is located on Cliff Lane, near the Ipswich wet dock. The business that became Cliff Brewery was started in 1723 ( in Kings Quay Street, Harwich) by Thomas Cobbold and is believed to be the second oldest independent brewery in England. It stood above the quays of the River Orwell at Ipswich, since 1746. Besides the brewery, there was a building nearby called Cliff House which was the home of John and Elizabeth Cobbold before they moved to live at Holywells Park, Ipswich in 1814. Cobbold merged with local rival, Tollemache Breweries in 1957 to form Tolly Cobbold. The brewery ceased operations in 2002, when the Tolly Cobbold company merged with Ridley's brewery.
● Cockfield Hall
● Coldham Hall
● Culford Park
D
● Dalham Hall
● Desning Hall
E
● Euston Hall
F
● Fornham Hall
G
● Gainsborough's House
● Gipping Hall
● Glemham Hall
● Glevering Hall
● Great Finborough Hall
● Great Glemham House
● Grimston Hall, Suffolk
H
● Hardwick House (demolished)
● Haughley Park
● Helmingham Hall
● Hengrave Hall
● Henham Park
● Henstead House
● Heveningham Hall
● Hintlesham Hall
● Hurt's Hall
I
● Ickworth House
J
K
Image Geograph © Copyright PAUL FARMER and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Kentwell Hall, Long Melford - Stately home. Most of the current building facade dates from the mid 16th century, but the origins of Kentwell are much earlier, with references in the Domesday Book of 1086. Between the years 1252 and 1272, Kentwell Manor appears to have been granted by King Henry III to Sir William de Valence, who was killed in battle in France in 1296. Kentwell passed to his niece, who married David Strabolgie, Earl of Athol; in 1333 he in turn conveyed the manor to Sir Robert Gower and his heirs. Kentwell passed to Sir Robert Gower's daughter and afterwards, in 1368, to John Gower, poet. In 1373 Kentwell was acquired by Sir John de Cobham and soon afterwards passed to the ownership of the Mylde family. Successive generations of Cloptons occupied Kentwell Hall from c1375 when Sir Thomas Clopton married Katherine Mylde, daughter of William Mylde of Clare, Suffolk, then the owner of the estate.
L
● Lawshall Hall
M
● Melford Hall
● Morpeth House
N
● 
Nether Hall
Image is from the Mechanical Curator collection, a set of over 1 million images scanned from out-of-copyright books and released to Flickr Commons by the British Library. Public Domain, Wiki Commons
Nether Hall is a country house situated in the village of Pakenham, Suffolk. It was one of the ancient manors of the village and seat of the Greene baronets.
Pakenham Hall was occupied by the Lord of the Manor of Pakenham - firstly the Abbot of Bury St Edmunds and then the Spring family. Nether Hall was originally the seat of the de Pakenham family, ancestors of the Earl of Longford. It passed to Edmund de Pakenham in 1292, and when he died in 1332 to his widow, Rohais, or Rosia de Pakenham. After her death in 1352 it passed to her son, Edmund, and then to his widow, Mary de Pakenham in 1360.
The Manor of Nether Hall remained in the possession of the de Pakenhams for about six descents. Theobald de Pakenham, the last holder, died without male issue. His grand-daughter, Margaret, married Sir William de Bardwell, the standard bearer to the Edward, the Black Prince. Nether Hall Manor then came into the possession of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was acquired by Thomas Bacon and his son, George, who died in 1579. It then passed to his son and heir, John. This same Thomas Bacon, a member of a branch of the famous Bacon family of that era, was seated at Hessett. It was then purchased by the mercantile Bright family, who occupied Nether Hall for one hundred and sixty-four years. Robert Bright, the purchaser, is noted chiefly for the building of Newe House which was completed in 1622. He built it originally to be his own residence; and his eldest son, Thomas lived in Nether Hall. Nether Hall remained in the possession of the Bright family until 1765.
Mary Bright, daughter of the fourth Thomas Bright, was the last of the name to inherit Nether Hall. She married Edmund Tyrell, of Plashwood Hall, Haughley, in 1744, and the estate was inherited by their son, Edmund Tyrell, after the death of his father. This son, who had also inherited Plashwood Hall, sold the Nether Hall estate to George Chinery, of Bury St. Edmunds. In 1807 he left the Nether Hall estate to his nephew, the Rev. William Bassett, who was Rector of Thurston. His son, William C. Bassett succeeded by entail and was residing in Nether Hall in 1857. The Nether Hall Estate changed hands again in 1886 when it was purchased by William Hardcastle who sold it to Sir Edward Greene, 1st Baronet, the Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds. When his son, Sir Raymond Greene, 2nd Baronet, died in 1920, the whole Estate was sold by his heirs to Mr A.J. Edwards, and then to the Martin family who modernised the interior of the building. Under the Martins Nether Hall became a country club of the Kristina Martin Charitable Trust. Nether Hall became a Country Club within the Trust. Mr Martin sold Nether Hall to the current occupants in 1987.
● Newe House
O
P
● Pakenham Hall (demolished)
● Parham Hall
Q
R
Rendlesham Hall
S
● Shrubland Park
● Sizewell Hall
● Smallbridge Hall
● Somerleyton Hall
● Sotterley Hall
T
U-V
W
● Westhorpe Hall
● Willy Lott's Cottage
● Wingfield Castle
● Wingfield College
● Woolverstone Hall
● Worlingham Hall
X-Y-Z
References and Sources
Suffolk Specific
General
- Stravaiging.com
- Secret Scotland
- Canmore
- Historic Scotland
- National Trust
- English Heritage
- WIKI List of country houses in the UK
- Britain's Finest
- Britain Express
- Lankdmark Trust
- Historic Houses Association - represents 1,500 houses in the UK
- Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens - UK - guidebook of over 2,000 houses open to the public
- The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses - database of over 7,000 houses
- Lost Heritage - A Memorial to the Lost Country Houses of England - list of over 1,700 houses
- National Trust for Historic Preservation - online database of historic houses in the United States
- WIKI Historic Houses Association
- Historic Houses Association
- WIKI Treasure Houses of England
- List of country houses in the United Kingdom
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Other Pages for Historic Buildings of English Counties
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Rutland now East Midlands
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Historic Buildings of Sussex divided into two projects
Westmorland Now Cumbria/Cumberland
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