Beck Hall, Bec Hall or Bek Hall is a

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

18th-century farmhouse in

Billingford, Breckland Billingford is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Billingford is located north of Dereham, with the civil parish being approximately in area. History The origin of the name 'Billingford' is uncertain, although i ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England. It is believed to be on the site of a former "hospital" or "hospice" (i.e. a hostel) adjacent to the Chapel of St Paul. The hospital was founded by William of Bec (or Beck): records go back before 1224 (in the reign of King Henry III). The hospital was dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury. An early resident of Bec was Alanus Elfwold (1248). The hospital (moated) was on the main road between

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

and

Walsingham Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval Christian monasticism, monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Expl ...

and was intended for the lodging for a single night of 13 poor travellers as they made their pilgrimage to the shrine of

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus, venerated by Catholics and high-church Anglicans. According to tradition, the title is linked to a Marian vision experienced in 1061 by Lady Richeldis de Faverches, an Angl ...

. The hospital was, at an early date in its history, well endowed with the manors of Beck, Billingford, and Howe, and with certain lands and rents in upwards of thirty Norfolk parishes. The hospital appears to have become a residence and may have been leased by The Church authorities before the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In the second half of the 15th century at least three generations of the Curson (or Curzon) family, descendants of the

Kedleston Kedleston is a village and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, approximately north-west of Derby. Nearby places include Quarndon, Weston Underwood, Mugginton and Kirk Langley. The population at the 2011 Census was less ...

family, held Beck Hall in Norfolk.''The Visitation of Norfolk 1563 & 1613'' edited by Walter Rye, London 1891, p.91. With the dissolution in the mid-16th century the property was granted to

Sir John Perrot Sir John Perrot (7 November 1528 – 3 November 1592) was a member of the Welsh people, Welsh gentry who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. It was formerly speculated that he ...

References

{{Authority control Historic sites in England Buildings and structures in Norfolk Billingford, Breckland