AN HISTORIC ASSESSMENT REPORT for
CROPTON HALL, HEYDON, NORFOLK
Alan Greening, AADip, RIBA, AABC Chartered Architect and registered Architect, Architect Accredited in Building Conservation, Post-Graduate Master in Building Conservation, 10, Queen Street, Southwold, Suffolk, IP18 6EQ Phone: 01502 722473 [email protected]
Cropton Hall; Historic Context
The term Hall to denote a principal farmhouse within an agricultural farm seems to be indicative of this area of Norfolk and probably derives from the multitude of manors and sub-manors in the parishes, before being brought under one central estate complex as at Heydon Hall by the Earle family. The term Hall seems to indicate a principal farmhouse within a demesne farming manor or sub-manor. Cropton Hall would seem to fit within this category, together with the idea of a lodge on the edge of the estate or parkland, although not evidenced in this initial research.
The building is situated on the edge of the farming-estate plateau, with the Parkland surrounding Heydon Hall lying further to the southeast. Cropton Hall overlooks the slight stream valley to the north and west, whereby deer could be chased uphill from the Corpesty direction to the head of the stream before being closed in and killed in full-view of Cropton Hall as a Hunting Lodge. The building could then be retired to for celebratory banqueting and drinking.
C19 Census documents indicate that it was part of the Heydon Hall estate and remained so until the later-C20 when it was sold. The descent of Cropton Hall would therefore seem to be inextricably linked to that of Heydon Hall and the developments with that house, park and estate.
Heydon
William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1845
[Transcription copyright © Richard Johns]
HEYDON, a pleasant village and parish, 5 miles W.N.W. of Aylsham, and 14 miles N.W. by N. of Norwich, has 321 souls, and 1911 acres of land, belonging to Wm. Earle Lytton Bulwer, Esq., of HEYDON HALL, a handsome Elizabethan mansion of brick, erected in 1581, by Henry Dynne, Esq.; but the house and lawn have since been considerably improved. Mr. Bulwer is the elder brother of Sir E.G.E. Bulwer Lytton, Bart., the author of several highly popular novels; and is lord of the manors of Heydon-with-members, Stinton Hall, Sallkirk Hall, Oulton, Thurning, Guestwick, Wood Dalling, &c., for which John Richardson, Esq., one of the first proposers of the new poor law, is steward.
The Church (St. Peter and St. Paul,) is a large and handsome Gothic fabric, with a lofty tower, in which is an excellent peal of six bells, hung a few years ago.
Erasmus Earle, who purchased the manors of Heydon, Sall and Cawston, and died in 1667, was one of the most able lawyers of his time, and held many important offices. Tyrus, or Turold de Dalling, who was enfeoffed at the Norman Conquest, in the manors of Wood-Dalling and Binham, was founder of the Bulwer family. The father of the present Mr. Bulwer, was a brigadier-general, and espoused the sole heiress of A.W. Lytton, Esq., of Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire.
Bulwer Wm. Earle Lytton,Esq. Heydon Hall
Barnes Samuel wheelwright Beauchamp Rev Rt. Wm. curate Bobby John Wragg grocer & draper Bramble John wheelwright Burn Hy. gamekpr Cotterill John blacksmith Edwards James shoemaker Gallant George gardener Leeds Stephen saddler and vict. Earle's Arms Ottway John blacksmith Richardson John, Esq. land agent Webster Henry baker & flour dealer Winter Saml. gamekpr
FARMERS.
Coltman Geo. Gardiner Thomas Ireland Benjamin (and lime burner) Kemp Able Kiddell James Kiddell Wm. Owen James Warren William
In the 1883 Directory, the Ireland family is not listed.
Bramble John wheelwright Bulwer Mrs. Heydon hall Clark Alfred farmer, Wood Dalling Daverson - bootmaker Daverson Mrs Sabina schoolmistress Golding William Laurence farmer, The Ollands Knights Thomas farmer Leeds Miss Mitchell Hy. gardener at The Hall Neale Thomas parish clerk Palmer Thomas farmer Pointen James blacksmith Shand Rev. George, M.A. rector Skelt Jas. John grocer & postmaster Warren Daniel William Cocking farmer and limeburner Winter Mrs Elizbth. vict. Earle Arms Winter Misses Winter Mr William Wright James gamekeeper
National Heritage Record Details NHER Number: 7359 Type of record: Building Name: Cropton Hall Summary A 17th and early 18th century red brick farmhouse with a steeply pitched pantile roof. The house is two storeys high with attics and is built in a cruciform plan, with shaped north and south gables, the north one having a date of 1702. The date 1730 appears on a later northwest addition. The main west façade has five upper window bays and three lower ones, with a doorway under a segmental pediment supported by brick columns. A good 17th century staircase was noted inside the house, but this was destroyed in a fire in 1985, and the interior is now mostly modern. In the grounds of the house are some 18th century farmhouses and a well-preserved World War Two air raid shelter. Images - none Location Grid Reference: TG 1081 2838 Map Sheet: TG12NW Parish: HEYDON, BROADLAND, NORFOLK Full description 18 August 1977. Visited. Brick, south gable shaped, with a pair of windows on the ground and first floors, above them a very small blocked pair, then apparently a central false window. Pair of later octagonal chimneys on top. Large brick plinth. Probably early 17th century. South end of west wall of same build, chequerwork, also south end of east wall, though windows have been hacked in this and blocked again. Remainder of west wall is a façade of about 1700, two storeys, five bays upper and three lower, separated by string course; windows have wooden mullions and transoms. Brick pilastered and pedimented door. Dentilled cornice which breaks into older south end of wall (though string course does not). Wing at right angles running west in identical style, three bays, two storeys with arch of old basement window visible. String course, moulded, continues onto west gable of this wing. East side of main block has string course; windows all blocked; 17th century brickwork appears to have been reused. Masked by recent additions. At north end of house a block of three octagonal chimneys: then adjoining separate north wing with shaped gable dated 1702 in clamp irons; next to it another with plain gable dated 1730. Of this date are brick farm buildings, including a range between two towers. In the garden is a well-preserved air raid shelter, concrete with buried corrugated iron roof. E. Rose (NAU), 18 August 1977.
Roof destroyed by fire after a lightning strike. Building in use as hotel. See press cutting (S1) in file. Listing (S2) notes a good 17th century staircase. E. Rose (NAU), 28 June 1985.
But source [1] states that this was burnt in the 1985 fire. The interior is now totally modern except for the smaller projection E. Rose (NLA), 12 December 1996.
Reference (S3) notes adjacent barn, late 18th century, two threshing floors and pentises, reroofed. To south is long stable block with matching pavilions for harness rooms. This is the best farm on the Heydon estate although it is not adjacent to Heydon Hall. E. Rose (NLA), 13 January 1995.
Architects' plans (S4), (1997) in file. Monument Types BARN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD) FARMSTEAD (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD) GREAT HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD) STABLE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD) AIR RAID SHELTER (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD) Associated Finds - none Protected Status Listed Building Sources and further reading --- Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1989. Village where time rolls back serenely. 7 August. --- Secondary File: Secondary file.
Parish Summary: Heydon This Parish Summary is an overview of the large amount of information held for the parish, and only selected examples of sites and finds in each period are given. It has been beyond the scope of the project to carry out detailed research into the historical background, documents, maps or other sources, but we hope that the Parish Summaries will encourage users to refer to the detailed records, and to consult the bibliographical sources referred to below. Feedback and any corrections are welcomed by email to [email protected] The parish of Heydon is situated in northeast Norfolk, to the northwest of Cawston. Its name comes from the Old English for ‘Hay Hill’. The earliest evidence of human occupation in the parish comes in the form of Neolithic flint tools, three axe heads, two partly polished (NHER 7324 and 7325) and one wholly polished (NHER 7335). The Bronze Age is represented by finds of part of a copper alloy spearhead (NHER 3107) and an axe head (NHER 35057). Also, noted after advances in aerial photography is a possible Bronze Age ring ditch (NHER 32246). This feature is probably the remains of circular burial mounds or barrow, ploughed flat over the centuries but with its surrounding ditch still visible as a cropmark from the air. There are currently no finds from the Iron Age, but a possibly Roman enclosure has been identified from the air (NHER 36407), and Roman finds include pottery fragments (NHER 35058 and 41829), coins, brooches and a tile (NHER 41829). As yet, there is no evidence of Saxon activity.
SS Peter and Paul's Church, Heydon. (© NCC.) The medieval period has left the parish with its oldest surviving building, the church of St Peter and St Paul (NHER 7369). The building consists of a tall west tower of knapped flint, an aisled nave with a clerestory, a chancel, north and south porches and a mortuary chapel to the Bulwer family. It was originally 14th century, but was remodelled in the 15th century, when the large windows were inserted into the nave and chancel. Inside is an impressive 13th century font, fine late 14th century wall paintings and a huge black tomb chest for Erasmus Earle, a celebrated lawyer who bought Heydon Manor in 1650. There is also a medieval cross (on a later plinth and somewhat repaired) in the parish (NHER 7362), though it is thought to have been moved from its original setting in Wood Dalling. Other medieval buildings have not survived, but have left a footprint in the form of their surrounding moat. An example of this was at NHER 22182, a moated site marked on 19th and early 20th century maps. The site was destroyed by farming in about 1930. Medieval objects found include quite a few coins (e.g. NHER 35057, 36277, 39939, 41828 and 42704), a brooch (NHER 35057) and pottery fragments (NHER 23398 and 41829).
Heydon Hall, a fine country house that was built in 1582 for Sir Henry Dynne, one of the auditors of the Exchequer of Elizabeth I. (© NCC.) Without doubt, the most striking post medieval building is Heydon Hall (NHER 7358), the central part of which was built in about 1580 for Sir Henry Dynne, one of Elizabeth I’s exchequer auditors. The hall was then bought in 1650 by Erasmus Earle, an eminent lawyer who was Oliver Cromwell’s personal Sergeant at Law. It eventually passed by marriage to the Bulwer family, who still own it. The original hall was considerably added to in the 18th and 19th centuries, but these extensions were demolished in the 1970s during a restoration programme that broadly restored the house to its original proportions. The hall stands in its own parkland (NHER 30440) which is dotted with various ancillary buildings, including a service wing (NHER 43258), an estate office (NHER 43255), barn (NHER 43261) and four lodges (NHER 43256, 43257, 43264 and 43265). An ancient oak tree in the grounds (NHER 7360) is said to have been Oliver Cromwell’s refuge when he was chased by a bull while visiting Earle at the hall.
In broad chronological order, the other post medieval houses on the record include the Old Bakehouse (NHER 12730) and Park Farmhouse (NHER 30775), parts of which date to the 16th century. Ollands Farm (NHER 12726), Cropton Hall (NHER 7359), The Grange (NHER 30773) and Dower House (NHER 30774) all have 17th century origins, though much altered later. The Earle Arms pub (NHER 43271) is 18th century and later as is Heydon House (NHER 43267), a former vicarage. The most historically recent entry on the record is a World War Two brick Home Guard shelter (NHER 32492). Dating to about 1940, it stands in trees near the village hall. Not separately numbered, but well preserved, is a World War Two air raid shelter in the grounds of Cropton Hall (NHER 7359). Piet Aldridge (NLA), 23 May 2006.
Further Reading Rye, J. 1991. A Popular Guide to Norfolk Place Names (Dereham, The Larks Press) Listing Text
TG 12 NW HEYDON CORPUSTY ROAD 3/44 Cropton Hall 19-1-52 - II* Farmhouse. C17 and early C18; dated 1702 on north gable. Red brick with steeply-pitched pantile roof. Two storeys and attics, cruciform plan. Shaped south gable with two ground floor and two first floor cross-casements, renewed. Internal chimney stack with two octagonal chimney shafts with moulded caps and bases. Moulded brick eaves corbels to gable. Gable return with diapering. West wall five bays wide: cross-casements at first floor level. Central doorway with moulded brick pilasters, entablature with pulvinated frieze and segmental pediment. Original door with upper octagonal panels, lower six cruciform panels, now slightly truncated at base. 2-light rectangular fanlight with gauged brick arch over. Ground floor windows 3 x 4-light casements with transoms replacing original four windows (arches still in situ). Platband at first floor level. Modillion eaves cornice. South wall of west wing 3 windows wide: ground floor sashes with single glazing bar, wider than the arches above them, first floor cross-casements. Platband with moulded soffit. Internal stack at west gable with two diagonally-set shafts. Two moulded string courses on gable. Large central ridge stack with four octagonal shafts with moulded caps and bases. North range dated 1702 on shaped gable: ground floor openings altered with rendered lintol-band above. Two first floor cross-casements and 2-light attic window. Blocked openings in east wall. Later gabled range to north-west dated 1730. Gabled stair turret to east with semicircular-headed stair window with glazing bars. Interior: has good C17 staircase, closed string, with turned balusters and newels, urn-finials to newel posts. Listing NGR: TG1079428374 This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building. Source: English Heritage Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence. The Building Phases 1 Late-C16, and in-line two-cell, two-storey, north-south building erected, perhaps with the original 1581 building of Heydon Hall. The south brick gable and probably that on the north, but encompassed with later work, is built in English Bond brickwork with a plinth. The diaper-patterning only occurs on the west as if addressing that view and to the road from Heydon to Corpusty, Saxthorpe and on to the coast at Sheringham and Cromer. A form of house of this period, with brick gable ends, develops in East Anglia, whereby two brick chimney ends contain a two-storey and attic in-line range. The range between the stacks is often of timber frame, or timber over a brick ground-floor or of brick to both floors. An entrance porch is sometimes added to the entrance façade as a statement of some importance. The use of diapered brickwork emerges at the Bishop’s Palace, Ely circa 1510 and at Hampton Court in the decades following, becoming frequently used during the rest of the C16 and into the early-C17. Its use in the period of the building of Heydon Hall would seem to relate to that building’s construction from 1581, but its use the later ownerships in the C17 would appear to be beyond the continued use of this patterning. On inspection, it can be seen that, the original gable was not a ‘Dutch’ form as can be seen now, but was of crows-foot stepping, which still survives covered over by the late-C17, or 1702 phases.
2 Largely demolished and rebuilt in the late-C17, but the two costly and useful chimney gable ends and stacks retained. It was renewed with a post-Restoration-Period house in the brick style developed by the architect Roger Pratt. He was a Norfolk architect of national importance establishing an English type of house in the Restoration period, widely influential and copied. A good late-C17 turned baluster staircase was provided, ruined by fire in 1985 and part rebuilt in a new arrangement, but it is considered that the northeast corner of the two-cell, two storey building was built with a brick staircase turret, housing a turned baluster staircase. The bricks of this turret are of a richer plum-colour. This would have been essentially a new house in the latest style.
2nd phase, late-C17 west facade Pratt-type details and The butting-on junction of the proportions 1730 wing to the late-C17 phase Heydon Hall was purchased by the lawyer Erasmus Earle in 1640 and has descended with that or related branches of the family since. At the Restoration of Charles 11, the strictures of Cromwell’s commonwealth were much relaxed and a C17 fireplace is recorded in the hall. It is possible that alterations were made to both Heydon Hall and Cropton Hall in the same period. More research is required.
3 1702, a single bay addition as built in the north end of the original and rebuilt building to take advantage of the brick stack, only the ground floor has a fireplace and an extra stack added to the two earlier ones. The north gable is of so-called ‘Dutch’ form, the brickwork laid in Flemish-Bond and a three-course plat-band over a single-course at attic-floor level. Windows are of mullioned casement form with vouissor-brick lintels. There is a plinth, which indicates that the central opening to the gable wall was a door. The ground floor at the north has been modified by later alterations, with a plat-band removed and windows brick-up or altered. On the east the brickwork is of the same good quality, but darker on the ground floor and the building phase joint and junction is visible with the Phase 1, late-16C building with its gable-corbel matching those to the south. Windows, facing the farmyard, have bricked-up and a diagonal line in the brickwork shows that there was a lean-to building built east from this wall, as appears in C19 and C20 maps. The housing of its roof rafters can be seen to be cut into the side brickwork of what is considered to be the late-C17 staircase turret.
4 1730, an east west range added to the earlier house providing a status parlour and chamber. The dated gable of the west range to 1730 would seems to indicate a major scheme of improving Cropton Hall while Matthew Brettingham the Elder was improving Heydon Hall adjoining. By adding a right-angled range onto an earlier, linear, building a more substantial edifice is created providing a private west wing with a large principal parlour on the ground floor, now the kitchen and a large chamber above. There are C18 doors and plaster cornices, some modern, plus first-floor wardrobes set on either side of a fireplace. The main fireplace, would seem to be part of this circa 1730’s phase and the front-entrance door is of an ‘Artisan-Mannerist’ brick style of circa 1725-30 added onto the late-C17 phase of re-building in the Pratt style. The front door, with its octagonal panelling, could be of this period or, perhaps, later in the C18. The wide ground-floor windows would appear to be another early-C18 improvement to the lateC17 facade, but in a C17-mullioned-casement style, rather than the more fashionable sash window that became common in the early-C18. Why they were not carried out in the by-now fashionable sash windows is a question. Perhaps a wide view out from the ground floor was more important to this early-C18 phase of the building than using the most-modern style. The building cold have been seen to be rather more ‘country’ in style, developing in the early-C18 and using the style of the C17 casements. On the other-hand these two wide windows do provide a great deal of light to come in, plus did allow wide vistas out over the valley to the north where deer could have been hunted into and guided towards Cropton Hall (if a hunting lodge) before being killed. The view is now obscured by over-grown country-lane hedges.
The ‘Artisan-Mannerist’ brick door-surround, with its segmental pediment above a pair of brick-pilaster interpretations of columns and a pulvinated frieze also commonly relates to the early-C18. The front door with its octagonal panelling reflects the octagonal-coffered plaster ceilings of this late-C17 to early-c18 period and Windows and doors with octagonal panelling continue to the late-C18, with the architect Sir Robert Taylor developed a signature use of this in his 1760’s work such as at Barlaston Hall for Josiah Wedgewood. At Heydon Hall the Earle line came to an end in 1762 and the surviving heiress was married to William Wiggett Bulwer. By 1776, the date of an estate map, the park has already been re-landscaped and it is possible that some improvements to Cropton Hall and the front entrance door relate to this mid-C18 period.
5 Early-C19 Faden’s Map of Norfolk, 1797, shows the smaller park and Heydon Common to the west with its houses around it. Heydon Village is to the south, outside the park, with an east-west road between the park and the village, curving through the common. Cropton Hall is shown a it is now but only as map ‘blocks’ not in detail. A further building is shown just north of the hall and another at the junction of the lane leading down into the valley, similar to the situation that exists today.
A two-storey late-C18 to early-C19 north addition was built to the rear of the 1730 wing, that probably contained service rooms and offices on the ground floor and a bedroom with bathroom on the first as it does now. The additions to the house and farm were most-likely encouraged by the agricultural boom-years of the 1790, through to the 1820’s, during the Napoleonic Wars when imported products were scares and high agricultural prices and rents were obtained.
The brickwork is in well-laid Flemish Bond with horizontal skinks, where not repaired and an original door to the northwest was blocked up in the later -C19 to be replaced by the present one cut in to the brickwork as a plan re-organisation with the insertion of the staircase to the first floor. The brickwork between the first and ground-floor windows has been laid in a haphazard Header-Bond, as if a major repair, or of cheaper construction covered by a pentice and therefore not to be seen. The small south lean-to, accessed from the ground-floor of the 1702 extension was added later.
Bryant’s Map of 1826 shows the expanded Park following the Enclosure of Heydon Common and its absorption into the Park at the west. The Park was also extended south to enclose Heydon Village itself and the earlier road moved south to its present position. Cropton Hall is shown as before.
Circa 1830-40, cast iron fire-grates were introduced into the building for modern and more efficient heating, those on the first-floor still surviving at south and west.
1841, the Tithe Award and Map shows the building in outline detail and the farm buildings. Sadly, the buildings are not accurately profiled, but indicative.
The owner is William Bulmer Earle Lytton and the occupier is Benjamin Ireland who also has the Park and his farm totals 382 acres. The Ireland family are local farmers with the largest agricultural holding in the parish.
In the 1841 Census Benjamin is aged 29, a young farmer, probably recently taken the Hall as his estate or inherited it from his father, more research is required. His wife is Mary, 24, and they have a son Benjamin, 1; Mary who is 65; and three female servants, Susannah Riches, Ann Webster, Elizabeth Seaman.
In 1851 he is living at Salle Rectory, the occupier of Cropton Hall is not known, but his farm has expanded to 560 acres. Mary, his mother or mother-in Law, aged 70, is living at Heydon Park with the elder son Benjamin and Charlotte Neal a house servant. This could be a misinterpretation of Heydon Hall farm?
In 1861 he is at Lime Kiln Farmhouse with a new wife, Louisa, aged 27, has a farm of 900 acres employing 25 labourers and 6 boys.
Cropton Hall is shown with an extension towards the farm at its northeast corner, now demolished, a range of buildings at the east garden-boundary wall and the farm buildings beyond.
Sometime in the C19 a large brick addition was added to the east of the property with a circular-headed window, apparently to house a rather grand-rebuilding of the C17 staircase. It was built against an earlier C18 east extension that appears to be in a staircase turret form and it is likely that this was the original staircase turret for the turned baluster dog-leg stair rising-up to the first-floor main rooms of the phase two north-south range. The fire of 1985 destroyed the roofs over this phase 2 part of the building and damaged the staircase which has been rebuilt in a modern arrangement.
6 In 1871 the large farm of H. J and B.S. Ireland at Cropton Hall becomes bankrupt during the late-C19 agricultural depression and the hall was taken ‘in-hand’, that is back into the Heydon Hall estate. Stewards were put into manage the farm and the land.
The 1st-Series Ordnance Survey map of 1889, shows east additions linking the main house with the farmyard building either side of the containment brick garden wall between the house and farmyard. It also shows a long building at the northeast corner that projects from the house through and into the farmyard. This is noted previously as the sloping scar of a building now removed from the east wall of the 1702 addition.
GoogleEarth copyright acknowledged
The site in 1889
In 1891 Henry Green is the farm steward with his sister Mary as housekeeper, Mary Vout, a servant and Sarah Holman a visitor. The estate appears to carry out repairs and replacing windows. Late-C19 or early-C20 internally-bevelled mullioned windows were rebuilt into earlier openings and some opening bricked up, particularly to the side facing the farmyard, as if an improvement to the status of the building. Blocking views to the farm behind.
There is a small projection, perhaps a porch at the northwest corner of the property and another adjoining on the west face of the 1730 wing and another on the north. This can be seen today as a demolished in-fill building, only the scullery remaining.
From the northeast From the north From the northwest
Principal west elevation South gable elevation Rear walls from the east
The Fireplace The fireplace is of an early-C18 large-scale and expressive architectural composition depicting, through the decorative motifs, the chase. It is set between two Palladian, classical arched and architraved-openings and the left-hand door is a battened and panelled door of the later C17. This would fit with the later-C17 phase 2 west brick façade to the in-line north-south range. Ceiling cornices and roses are modern.
Laye-C17 door to left of Rear of Door to fireplace. C18 door into 1702 addition. fireplace.
The three chimney stacks above are of C17 form, set diagonally, two of the later-C17 range and one extra built for the 1702 addition.
The fireplace of an early-C18 style and appears to be integral, with the chair rail and a bell-pull of the C19 suggesting the authenticity of the elements and their position with a later-C17 stack upgraded with a new and fashionable architectural fireplace front in the early-C18.
The architectural frame is of a centrally pedimented frieze with tapered side pilasters and Ionic columns over a ribbed bracket with garlanded-masks below. The pilasters have mirrored cross-bows in relief and the outer frame surrounds an inner architrave enclosing an elliptical-backed fireplace opening.
The architrave is surmounted by a central pediment and the curved and raised upper frame contained the relief of a deer’s head with a quiver and arrows plus a dagger for the ‘coup-de-gras’ The head is surmounted by garlands gathered in scrolls at either side of the top of the architrave which is ‘eared’ and with bold scrolls to the sides at the base. The architrave has ovulo mouldings and the dentil-courses with ogee brackets.
The symbolism is clearly of the chase, and the bold fireplace would seem to be intended to impress and to provide a warm and comfortable ambience to the post-hunt celebrations, entertainments and banqueting.
The fireplace would fit within the context of the 1730 west addition to the building, which provided an extra, large, parlour on the ground floor and chamber above. The size, scale and architectural expression of the surround is in an early-C18 Palladian style, similar to those created by Colen Campbell, William Kent and James Gibbs in grand houses such as nearby Holkham and Houghton Halls, as well as at Chiswick House, with the help of William Kent for the interiors and gardens. Everything is painted with modern white paint, but is solid (marble or stone?) beneath; not timber. There are old settlement cracks in the head of the surround, indicating authenticity.
The bold, expressive and large-scale sculptural qualities of the fireplace are similar to the style of William Kent and his followers as well as his work for Colen Campbell and Lord Burlington at Chiswick House in the 1720’s and at the same time at Houghton Hall. Campbell published Vitruvius Britannicus between 1715 and 1725 which was the major influence on Classical architecture that was to follow. He died in 1729 but his influence continued through rich patrons and creative architects. A fireplace of the same scale and with some similar elements is at Hampton Court Palace. Created in 1737 by William Kent for George 11 and his Queen in 1733, in the ‘Red Room’ of the Cumberland Suite in 1737. The central pediment is used as is the mask and the garlands.
It is known from Pevsner’s The Buildings of England, Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East that Matthew Brettingham the Elder worked at Heydon Hall in the early-1730’s and that a good pair of early-C18 chairs were sold from the house, indicating an internal refurbishing at that time for Colonel Earle by Matthew Brettingham.
Matthew Brettingham (1699 – 19 August 1769), sometimes called Matthew Brettingham the Elder, was an 18th-century Englishman who rose from humble origins to supervise the construction of Holkham Hall, and become one of the country's best-known architects of his generation. He is remembered principally for his Palladian remodelling of numerous country houses, many of them situated in the East Anglia area of Britain. Both Matthew Brettingham ‘the Elder’ and his son, ‘the younger’ would have been well-versed in the Palladian style of architecture, such as at Houghton, Holkham and Chiswick House and of the creative and expressive large-scale work of William Kent. Both father and son worked on the very many gentry houses in East Anglia and in fashionable London. A Matthew Brettingham fireplace is at 5, St. James’s Square, London dated 1748 and the mask are garlands are similar to those at Cropton Hall and a door case has similar scrolls.
At Houghton, built from 1720-1735, the architect, or architects, are uncertain (See John Harris article in Country Life) but the interiors are indicated as William Kent. His fireplace in the Hall shows similar style and motifs to that at Cropton Hall.
The fireplace; a discussion. The problem with the fireplace surround is that the building has been inspected by the Listing Authorities in 1951 and again in 1977. On both occasions the fireplace is not mentioned and it does not appear that an internal inspection was undertaken on either occasion, except that in the initial visit a good C17 staircase is mentioned plus, in the second inspection the interior is described as all modern except in the small addition, which is not located in that description. The first visit may be correct in its perusal if the interior was not accessed, but that the staircase could be seen through a window. The second states that the interiors are mainly modern but on closer inspection several historic features are now clearly-evident and in a historic context. In-spite of the fire that destroyed the roof of the south part of the north-south range in 1985 and the use of the building as a small hotel in modern times, there are many historic elements within, some decidedly original and others most likely.
There is always the risk, in a modern context, of an ‘antiques insertion’ in modern times, but the size and importance of such a highly-significant fireplace would surely have been noticed, either in sale-rooms, or magazines such as Country Life. More research and work needs to be carried out on this important fireplace and even if it is a C19 or C20 insertion from another grander property, it is now fixed into a Listed Building and should be protected, even if it is not mentioned in earlier descriptions.
Further Interior elements of interest The late-C17 Little survives of this period, except the open fireplace now set on the cross landing from the staircase to the first-floor of the west wing. This would indicate that this was a two-cell building with two rooms on ground and first floors both heated by gable chimney stacks and fireplaces. The suggested staircase turret at the rear, east, elevation would have entered this bedroom and the south bedroom was accessed through it, as was common. There is the front panel of a C17 salt hatch, with adzed surface, it is not known if this is in context. The fireplace recess is slightly curved at the rear. The chimney stack above is of a form dating from the early-C16, see Hampton Court Palace, but in this context could date from the 1581 build of Heydon Hall.
First phase stack and second phase fireplace.
Roofs The roof construction over the main part of the in-line north-south roof was burned down in 1985 and re- built in modern softwood form.
The roof-space over the 1702 extension is used as a bedroom and the original roof construction is as a two- tier, butt and chamfered-end, side-purlin roof with straight and arched wind braces and undiminished principal rafters. Collar-ties, where seen, are modern. End purlins are built into the brick gable. The construction is good, but some scantlings have wany edge, particularly the braces. Timbers are adzed and the purlins are chamfered down to fit the depth of the principal rafters. All are painted.
1702 attic Butt-purlin construction
The roof over the 1730 east-west wing is of similar construction to that of the 1702 extension, but with collar-ties set between the two tiers of purlins and single straight-arch wind-braces. The roof of the early-C19 north addition is visible and its brick stack.
1730 roof space C19-addition roof and brick stack
It is interpreted that a status ground-floor parlour was provided and there survives and C18 door into this space and C18 plaster cornices. Above this was a status chamber as shown by the built-in early-C18 cupboards, set either side of the gable fireplace and with ‘H’ hinges. The fireplace improved circa 1830 by the insertion of a Late-Regency cast-iron grate; the Ireland family?
First-floor wardrobes Bottom of wardrobes Circa 1830 cast-iron fireplace
The ground floor parlour below is now modernised but a six-panel raised-and-fielded door and plaster cornices survive in this room. Much of the glass in the C19 sash panes are of plate glass, seedy and reemy and of that date.
Door into kitchen (Parlour) Plaster cornices
The shutters to the ground floor west windows have ‘H’ hinges, the same as the cupboards in the first-floor chamber of the 1730 west wing, so would appear to be part of this major phase of upgrading the building. The door hinges are of ‘L’ shaped strap hinges, old nail fixed to the door and with pintol hinges. Locks, latches and knobs are C19.
Rear of Front Door C18 Window shutter hinges
The straight flight of stairs in the C19 north addition appear to be a later-C19 alteration to the plan arrangement, in that the external door which leads into it is a late insertion into the north elevation, replacing the earlier door now bricked-up. This would indicate a late-C19 alteration or C20 alteration to the property to provide a servant’s entrance and offices on the ground floor with limited access to the family household, the servants largely unseen. This would be unusual for a farmhouse where the family and servants would mix together daily and suggests a raise in status use, after the Ireland family-farm becomes bankrupt and Heydon Hall stewards are put in to run the farm. It may be that the Steward and his family occupied the north rooms, accessed from the farmyard and the rest of the house became let or part of the Heydon Hall use.
Altered rear entrance doors Probable servant’s staircase View down from first-floor landing
In the south end of the building-the first-floor rooms and the south ground-floor room are largely modern, having been stripped out and modernised in the late-C20. An early-to mid, cast-iron fireplace has been inserted into the south gable fireplace. It is set within a timber surround with fluted and reeded pilasters with dentil tops and a central lozenge panel. All is indicative to a late-C18 surround with an early-to-mid cast-iron grate inserted. Its context and authenticity is uncertain.
South gable first-floor fireplace West gable first-floor fireplace
Bibliography
Landscape and countryside Eilert Ekwall The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names Publ: Oxford University Press
Oliver Rackham The History of the Countryside Publ: J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd.
John Richardson The Local Historian’s Encyclopaedia Publ: Historical Publications Ltd.
Norfolk Norfolk Museums Service In association, with Federation of Norfolk Historical and Archaeological Organisations History An Historical Atlas of Norfolk Publ: Norfolk Museums Service
Tithe Award Map and details
Faden’s Map of Norfolk 1797
Bryant’s Map of Norfolk 1826
Heydon James Bettley and Norwich and North-East Bill Wilson Publ: Yale University Press
Norfolk Records office Heydon and Cropton information
R.W. Brunskill Houses and Cottages of Britain Origins and Development of Traditional Buildings Publ: Peter Crawley in association with Victor Gollancz
Various articles Vernacular Architecture Magazine Publ: VAG
Various articles Eavesdopper Publ: Suffolk Historic Buildings Group
Brickwork Nathanial Lloyd A History of English Brickwork Publ: ACC Distribution
Brick Building in England Jane Wight From the Middle Ages to 1550. Publ: John Baker, London
Brick Building in Britain R.W.Brunskill Publ: Gollancz
Timber English Historic Carpentry Cecil Hewett Publ: Phillimore
The English Medieval Roof Edited by John Walker Publ: Essex Historic Buildings Group
Regional Variation in Timber-Framed Building D.F. Stenning and D.D. Andrews Publ: Essex County Council
Architecture Houses and Cottages of Britain, R.W. Brunskill Publ: Gollancz
The Smaller English House Lyndon F. Cave Publ: Hale
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Andrew Byrne London’s Georgian Houses Publ: The Georgian Press
English Interiors John Cornforth The Quest For Comfort Publ:
Interior Decoration Mario Praz Publ: Thames and Hudson