Shrubland Hall

Shrubland Hall

Shrubland Hall is a historic country house with planned gardens in Suffolk, England built in the 1770s.

The Hall was used as a health clinic in the second half of the 20th century. As of 2012 it is residential accommodation for the private higher education establishment, the British Institute of Technology & E-commerce (BITE)

History

The first recorded owner of the estate was Robert de Shrubeland, although there is evidence of occupation on the site since the Roman period. Shrubland Old Hall was built by the Booth family in the early 16th century and demolished in the early 19th century.

The present Grade II* listed hall was designed by James Paine for the Revd. John Bacon in the early 1770s. It was bought in 1788 by Sir William Fowle Middleton, Bt, who commissioned architect John Gandy-Deering to remodel it in the early 1830s. There was further remodelling of the building for Sir William between 1849 and 1855 by Sir Charles Barry, who also created the terraced gardens. Paine's central block was built in 3 storeys with a 5 bay frontage, to which Gandy-Deering added 3 further bays to either side. The whole is constructed of Gault brick with dressings of limestone and stucco.[1] The parkland was styled by Humphry Repton and still retains the deer park and walled garden.

After Sir William's death in 1860, the property passed to his cousin Sir George Nathaniel Broke Middleton, and from him in 1882 to his niece and her husband James St Vincent, 4th Baron de Saumarez. The Hall was used as a convalescent home during the First World War and the Old Hall as a brigade HQ during the Second World War. The 6th Baron then established a health clinic at the site which was continued by the 7th Baron. [2]

Shrubland Hall Health Clinic operated in the hall adjoining Shrubland Park Gardens from the 1960s until 2 April 2006, when the Shrubland Estate, totalling some 1,300 acres (5.3 km2), was put up for sale with an asking price of £23 million.[3] Until then the Italian style gardens which include Grade II listed features were open to the public as a visitor attraction.[4] It also featured in the James Bond film, Never Say Never Again.

In 2010 the estate was sold in 42 separate lots. [5] As of 2012 the Hall itself is used as residential quarters for the private higher education establishment, the British Institute of Technology & E-commerce (BITE) but in 2014 was re-opened as the luxury 7th Star Boutique Health and Hotel. [6]

References

  1. ↑ "List entry Number: 1033252". English Heritage. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Shrubland Park". Parks and gardens.org. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Historic estate on the market". East Anglian Daily Times. 2006-04-05. Archived from the original on 2006-05-02.
  4. ↑ "Official Website of Shrubland Park". Archived from the original on 2006-04-26.
  5. ↑ "Whatever happened to: Roddy Llewellyn’s childhood haunt?". Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "Shrubland Royale". Retrieved 10 April 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shrubland Hall.

Coordinates: 52°07′48″N 1°06′12″E / 52.1299°N 1.1033°E