Down Hall is a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

and estate near

Hatfield Heath Hatfield Heath is a village, civil parish, and an Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, and at its west is close to the border with Hertfordshire. In close proximity ar ...

in the English county of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, close to its border with

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. It is surrounded by of woodland, parkland and landscaped gardens, some of which is protected by the

Essex Wildlife Trust The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 The Wildlife Trusts, wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the ...

History

The first Down Hall was a Tudor house, once owned by

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Matthew Prior. Prior was acquainted with

landscaper Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # organism, Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with ...

Charles Bridgeman Charles Bridgeman (1690–1738) was an English garden designer who helped pioneer the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres ...

, who he commissioned to landscape the estate's gardens. After Prior's death in 1721 (just one year after buying the property), the house was passed to his friend

Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (2 June 1689 – 16 June 1741) was an English Tories (British political party), Tory politician and peer who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1711 to 1724. Early life Edwa ...

, who undertook further rebuilding. Twenty years later, and with the house still unfinished, Harley died.

Selwin family

Upon Harley's death in 1741, the house was purchased by William Selwin, a wealthy silk merchant, for £4500. The estate remained in the Selwin family until 1902, where – on the death of Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, 1st Baron Rookwood (who had commissioned its full rebuilding in the late 1860s) – the Selwin and Ibbetson lineage died out.

World War I

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the house was used as a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

for wounded soldiers. The estate was affected by the post-World War I recession, and was subsequently sold at

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

Modern history

Following its sale, the house was used as a school (

Downham School Downham School was a private boarding school for girls based at Down Hall, a Victorian country house near Hatfield Heath, Essex. The school was established in 1932. Eleanor Louisa Houison-Craufurd was the first principal from 1932 to 1950. The sc ...

, 1932–c.1967) and an

antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

s business and conference centre (1967–1986). In 1986, the estate was purchased by the Veladail Group, who have operated the site as a four-star

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

, conference centre and

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

venue since.

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

Jade Goody Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English media personality. She was a contestant on the Big Brother (British TV series) series 3, third series of the Channel 4 reality show ''Big Brother (British TV series) ...

wed her partner Jack Tweed at Down Hall on 22 February 2009. Series eleven and twelve of ''

The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, atte ...

'' were filmed at Down Hall, where, due to

Covid-19 restrictions During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

, all cast and crew quarantined together in a "bubble" during the six weeks of filming.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.downhall.co.uk/
Essex Wildlife Trust website
Country houses in Essex Hotel spas Hotels in Essex Grade II listed parks and gardens in Essex Country house hotels Buildings and structures in Uttlesford