Earlham Hall is a
country house
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 Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...
in
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 Nort ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. It is located just to the west of the city of
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...
,
[Earlham Hall on www.literarynorfolk.co.uk, access date 13 September 2012]
/ref> on Earlham Road, on the outskirts of the village of Earlham. For generations it was the home of the Gurney family. The Gurneys were known as bankers and social activists; prison reformer Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...
grew up at Earlham Hall. When the University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
was founded in 1963, the building became its administrative centre, and it now serves as the law school.
History
Earlham Hall was built in 1642 by Robert Houghton. By the eighteenth century it was occupied by Nockold Tompson
Nockold Tompson (26 October 1714 – 1777) was a brewer who was Mayor of Norwich in 1759–60.
Tompson was born in Norwich in 1714, the son of John Tompson, a brewer, and his wife Ruth. He was baptised on 21 November 1714 at St Michael Coslany ...
, a brewer who was Mayor of Norwich
This is a list of mayors and the later lord mayors of the city of Norwich.
Norwich had elected a mayor since 1403 when a Charter of Henry IV allowed the Freemen of the City to elect Councillors, Aldermen, Sheriffs and a Mayor serving for one ...
in 1759–60. When he farmed at Earlham Hall his crop-yield experiments were praised by Arthur Young in his ''Farmer's Calendar'' of 1771. Also in the eighteenth century it was in the ownership of the Bacon family; Edward Bacon M.P. built a "handsome, long, and lofty" dining room. He died in 1786 and ownership descended to a Mr Bacon Frank of Campsall in Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. At this juncture the house was rented to the Gurney family, an arrangement which persisted for well over a century, "perhaps one of the oldest tenancies known for a mansion of the size, though very frequent In the case of farmhouses".
The Gurneys were influential and wealthy Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
who established the bank bearing their name in 1770. (The family became sufficiently well known to be mentioned in Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which '' H.M.S. ...
's 1875 comic opera
Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue.
Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a n ...
''Trial by Jury
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions.
Jury trials are used in a significa ...
'': a character describes his accumulation of wealth until "at length I became as rich as the Gurneys". Gurney's Bank merged into Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
in 1896.)
Earlham Hall was the home of John Gurney (1749-1809) and his wife Catherine Bell (1755–1794). They had 13 children, including the bankers Samuel Gurney and Daniel Gurney
Daniel Gurney (1791–1880), was an English banker and antiquary from the Gurney family of Norwich.
Life
Gurney was born at Earlham Hall, near Norwich, on 9 March 1791, as the youngest son of John Gurney (1749–1809) of Earlham, Norfolk, and ...
, the social reform
A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary m ...
ers Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...
and Joseph John Gurney
Joseph John Gurney (2 August 1788 – 4 January 1847) was a banker in Norwich, England and a member of the Gurney family of that city. He became an evangelical minister of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), whose views and actions led, ...
, and Louisa Hoare, the writer on education. Another sister, Hannah, married Sir Fowell Buxton, MP, brewer, and abolitionist.
The Gurneys welcomed visitors and friends at Earlham Hall. Amelia Opie
Amelia Opie (née Alderson; 12 November 1769 – 2 December 1853) was an English author who published numerous novels in the Romantic period up to 1828. Opie was also a leading abolitionist in Norwich, England. Hers was the first of 187,000 name ...
, the novelist, was an intimate friend of the family.
George Borrow
George Henry Borrow (5 July 1803 – 26 July 1881) was an English writer of novels and of travel based on personal experiences in Europe. His travels gave him a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe, who figure strongly in his work. Hi ...
(1803-1881), author and traveller, used as a boy to fish the River Yare
The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network.
The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the villa ...
near Earlham Hall. On one occasion he was caught by Joseph John Gurney, who later invited the boy to his home to see his books. In his autobiographical novel ''Lavengro
''Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest'' (1851) is a work by George Borrow, falling somewhere between the genres of memoir and novel, which has long been considered a classic of 19th-century English literature. According to the author, i ...
'' Borrow recalls Earlham Hall; On the right side is a green level, a smiling meadow, grass of the richest decks the side of the slope; mighty trees also adorn it, giant elms, the nearest of which, when the sun is nigh its meridian, fling a broad shadow upon the face of the ancient brick of an old English Hall. It has a stately look, that old building, indistinctly seen, as it is, among the umbrageous trees.
Percy Lubbock
Percy Lubbock, CBE (4 June 1879 – 1 August 1965) was an English man of letters, known as an essayist, critic and biographer. His controversial book ''The Craft of Fiction'' gained influence in the 1920s.
Life
Percy Lubbock was the son of the ...
(1879-1965), art critic and biographer, was associated with Earlham Hall. He was the son of the merchant banker Frederic Lubbock and his wife Catherine, daughter of John Gurney (1809–1856). Lubbock spent his childhood summer holidays at his mother's family home; his memoir ''Earlham'' (1922) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, U ...
.
The Hall was used as council and nurses accommodation before the war, and provided maternity beds when bombs smashed Norwich's maternity home in June 1942. It also housed a school while the council built new accommodation in West Earlham.['Earlham Hall Unwrapped' - www.uea.ac.uk, access date 26 May 2015](_blank)
/ref>
In October 1963, Earlham Hall and its gardens became the home of the newly opened University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
. The Vice-Chancellor and administration were based in Earlham Hall. It later housed the Norwich Law School. Following major refurbishment and restoration (at a cost of around £8 million), the Law School
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
returned to Earlham Hall in March 2014 after four years being located in the Blackdale building.
In May 2015, the grounds of Earlham Hall were used as a backstage area for artists performing at Radio 1's Big Weekend
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend (R1BW) (previously known as One Big Weekend, for 2012 as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, and for 2018 as BBC Music's Biggest Weekend) is a British music festival run by the BBC's radio station. It is held once a year, in a ...
at Earlham Park. The University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
communications team used part of the Hall, and Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...
, among others, used another part as a dressing room before performing.['Radio 1's Big Weekend - Storify' - www.uea.ac.uk, access date 26 May 2015](_blank)
/ref>
References
{{coord, 52.6255, 1.2366, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Country houses in Norfolk
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
Houses completed in 1642
1642 establishments in England