Cromer Hall is a country house located one mile south of

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are Nor ...

on Holt Road, in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. The present house was built in 1829Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East, By

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

and Bill Wilson, Cromer entry, page 120. by architect

William Donthorne William John Donthorn (1799 – 18 May 1859) was a notable early 19th-century English architect, and one of the founders of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He was born in Swaffham, Norfolk and a pupil of Sir Jeffry ...

. The hall is a grade II* listed building.

Description

Cromer Hall was built in a variant of the Gothic Revival style, dubbed "Tudor Gothic" by architectural historian

; it is constructed in flint, with stone dressings and a slate roof. Additions were made in 1875. The building has an asymmetrical plan and has sections of two and three storeys. The central three-storey section is

crenellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

at the parapets with molded copings. The large windows are all of a Gothic design, with large

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

s featuring four centered heads and

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

. At the front center is a projecting two-storey section with stepped

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

and octagonal tower on the north corner. Projecting from this is an entrance porch with embattled parapet and four-centered-arch doorway. To the north and south ends of the front elevation there are bay windowed gables, each with a round window near the peak of the gable and a corbelled chimney at the

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex, ...

. The north gabled wing has a bell tower over the roof with battlements and a short spire. The building has many tall octagonal stone chimneys, some single and some in groups. Adjoining the main house to the north east there are a range of buildings which include stables and domestic wing. This section is built behind flint screen wall with three and four centered headed doorways and two stone mullion and transom windows. The entire outside walls are of flint construction, but inside walls facing the courtyard are of brick construction with low-pitched, hipped, slated roofs. The wing also has octagonal chimneys. The rooms have sash windows with glazing bars and there are large four-centered, arch-headed carriageway doors.

Literary connections

The hall has a strong literary connection thanks to a visit to the house by the writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes. In 1901 Arthur Conan Doyle had returned from South Africa, suffering from

Typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

. To aid his recuperation, the author decided to take a golfing holiday in North Norfolk, accompanied by the journalist

Bertram Fletcher Robinson Bertram Fletcher Robinson (22 August 1870 – 21 January 1907) was an English sportsman, journalist, author and Liberal Unionist Party campaigner. Between 1893 and 1907, he wrote nearly three hundred items, including a series of short stories th ...

. The two friends stayed at the Royal Links Hotel in Cromer. During their stay, Doyle probably heard the Norfolk legend of '

Black Shuck In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, one of many such black dogs recorded in folklore across the Br ...

', the Hell Hound of Norfolk. The following description of Baskerville Hall in Doyle's book can also be matched to the exterior aspects of Cromer Hall. From ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is se ...

'' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, originally serialised in the '' Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902. Unfortunately, Doyle himself said nothing in his autobiography about the writing of ''The Hound of the Baskervilles''. Although the setting for the story was

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, Doyle's visit to Cromer undoubtedly provided part of the inspiration.

Occupants

Cromer Hall was bought by Benjamin Bond Cabbell from Lady Listowel (daughter of Admiral Windham) in 1852. He was succeeded at Cromer Hall by his nephew John Cabbell who changed his name to Bond-Cabbell in 1875. He was succeeded by his son, Benjamin Bond-Cabbell, in 1878.

The hall today

Cromer Hall is not open to the public (summer 2010) and the house is still a private residence. The best position from which to view the building is Hall Road, which leads south from Cromer to the village of Felbrigg. It is described at length by the Donthorn expert Roderick O'Donnell in ‘Cromer Hall, Norfolk; the home of the Cabbell-Manners family’, in '' Country Life'' Magazine (London, vol 196, no.2, 10 January 2002, pp. 439). In the summer of 2017, the hall hosted two open-air concerts.

References

{{Reflist Cromer Country houses in Norfolk Grade II* listed buildings in Norfolk Wyndham family residences Houses completed in 1829 1829 establishments in England