Shandy Hall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shandy Hall was the home of the Rev. Laurence Sterne who is famous for his novel Tristram Shandy in Coxwold, North Yorkshire.

The home was originally built in 1430 as a parsonage for the Coxwold village priest. It is a small building, with a mossy stone-covered roof, wide gables, and massive chimney-stacks, originally a timber framed open-hall house considerably altered in the 17th century. The stone tablet above its doorway states that Sterne wrote Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey at Shandy Hall. This is not entirely accurate, for two volumes of Tristram Shandy had already been published in 1759 before Sterne moved to Coxwold.

Shandy Hall is also the name of a homestead museum located in Harpersfield, Ohio, owned and maintained by the Western Reserve Historical Society. The original rooms of Shandy Hall were built in 1815 by Col. Robert Harper. Shandy Hall eventually grew into an 18 room home, practically a mansion by frontier standards. Shandy Hall was named by Robert Harper's daughter, Ann, after her favorite book, Tristram Shandy. Her copy of the book remains at the museum to this day. Shandy Hall, together with many of its original antique furnishings, was donated to the Western Reserve Historical Society in the 1930s, and remains open today as a museum. The majority of the pieces on display are original to the home. Shandy Hall