Fornham Hall was a large 18th-century country house near

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

. It was demolished in 1957. The Estate included manorial land is part of the parish of

Fornham St Genevieve Fornham St Genevieve is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is one of a trio of contiguous villages by the River Lark. The other villages are Fornham All Saints and Fornham St Martin. Loc ...

History

The Fornham estate was bought in 1731 by Samuel Kent, a rich London grain merchant who became a local MP. Sir Charles Kent, Bt (Samuel's grandson) employed

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

to design a large new house on the estate in the 1770s. He also became a local MP (for Thetford) and was

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

for 1781. The house was acquired by Bernard Howard (subsequently 12th Duke of Norfolk) in 1797 and expanded on the Duke's behalf by the architect Robert Abraham in the 1820s. It was sold in 1842 to the second

Lord Manners Thomas Manners-Sutton, 1st Baron Manners, (24 February 1756 – 31 May 1842) was a British lawyer and politician who served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1807 to 1827. Background and education Manners-Sutton was the sixth son of Lord Geor ...

who sold it on to Sir William Gilstrap in 1862. The estate was acquired by the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

in 1939 and used for training purposes by the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

before the house was demolished in 1957. The grounds include the tower of the ruined church of St Genevieve.

References

Sources

* {{coord, 52.2825, 0.6966, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Suffolk British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Buildings and structures demolished in 1957 Demolished buildings and structures in Suffolk