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Henham Park is an historic estate in the parish of Wangford with Henham, situated north of the village of
Blythburgh Blythburgh is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is west of Southwold and south-east of Halesworth and lies on the River Blyth. The A12 road runs through the village which is spli ...
in the
English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...
of
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
. The park is bordered to the east by the
A12 road This is a list of roads designated A12. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by country. * A012 road (Argentina), a road around the city of Rosario * A12 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Kufstein and the German Autobahn A 93 to Lande ...
and to the west by the A145, the two roads meeting to the south of the estate.. It was historically the seat of the Earl of Stradbroke. In 1953 the 4th Earl demolished the Georgian
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
, known as Henham Hall. The estate's current owner is Keith Rous, 6th Earl of Stradbroke (b. 1937), formerly of Mount Fyan's Station, Dundonnell,
Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...
,Kidd, Charles, ''Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage'' 2015 Edition, London, 2015, p.P1174 a 5,900 hectare (14,580 acre) ranch which he purchased in 1989 and sold in 2016 for $ Aus 34 million (£19 million). In 2006 a major £60 million redevelopment plan was announced by Hektor Rous, the estate manager and a younger son of the 6th Earl, including the building of a large hotel. The park is the venue for the
Latitude Festival Latitude Festival is an annual music and arts festival set within the grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. The first edition of the festival took place in 2006 and has continued annually (apart from 2020 when it was cancel ...
of arts and music and plays host to other events throughout the year.


History


Hunting park

The original Henham lands were hunting grounds in the historic civil parish of Henham, the seat of the de la Poles Earls of Suffolk, of Wingfield Castle in Suffolk, on which a timber-framed structure was built with its own protective moatyard. However in 1513
King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...
ordered the execution of Edmund de la Pole, and granted the property to his friend
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk ( – 22 August 1545) was an English military leader and courtier. Through his third wife, Mary Tudor, he was the brother-in-law of King Henry VIII. Biography Born in 1484, Charles Brandon was the secon ...
, who built a new mansion house in front of the old mediaeval timber-framed structure, in fine Tudor style. The house had extensive walled gardens on two sides and enclosed a large courtyard. In 1538 there is a record of a deer park here. On Brandon's death in 1545, the Crown granted Henham to Sir Arthur Hopton of
Blythburgh Blythburgh is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is west of Southwold and south-east of Halesworth and lies on the River Blyth. The A12 road runs through the village which is spli ...
who immediately sold the estate to Sir Anthony Rous, Knight, of
Dennington Dennington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is north of Framlingham and north-east of Ipswich in the east of the county. It lies along the A1120 road around west of the road's junction with the main A12 roa ...
, near Stradbroke in Suffolk. In 1575
Christopher Saxton Christopher Saxton (c. 1540 – c. 1610) was an English cartographer who produced the first county maps of England and Wales. Life and family Saxton was probably born in Sowood, Ossett in the parish of Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire ...
represented Henham with a small icon of a park on his map of Suffolk. In 1773, while Sir John Rous, 6th Baronet (from 1821 1st Earl of Stradbroke) was away on a Grand Tour of
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, his drunken butler had a mishap with a candle, which caused a fire that destroyed the building. The £30,000 loss represented eight years' income from the estate, and the substantial blow meant that it was to be twenty years before he could afford to rebuild.Henham Hall - a lost house
, Alan Mackey, BlythWeb, March 2000. Retrieved 2009-09-03
This structure was the subject of an episode of the
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
television series ''
Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...
'' in January 2013.


Georgian hall

In 1790 Sir John, later the first Earl of Stradbroke, commissioned
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 build a new hall, in front of the second hall, with accompanying parkland design by
Humphrey Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intrica ...
. An impressive structure, in 1858 Augusta Bonham wife of the second Earl instructed architect Edward Barry to give it a Victorian gloss; the work was carried out by Lucas Brothers. This hall was demolished by the fourth Earl of Stradbroke in 1953, despite attempts by his brother, later the fifth Earl, to keep the house intact. One wall remains, with a
frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
depicting a Native American fighting a bear. A
horse mill A horse mill is a mill, sometimes used in conjunction with a watermill or windmill, that uses a horse engine as the power source. Any milling process can be powered in this way, but the most frequent use of animal power in horse mills was for gri ...
used to operate on the estate, one of only two known in Suffolk. This is now preserved at the
Museum of East Anglian Life The Food Museum, formerly the Museum of East Anglian Life, is a museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England focused on the farming and food production industries. It consists of an 84-acre estate and 17 historic buildings. History of the Museum Th ...
at
Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...
.


Present

The fourth Earl died in 1983 with his brother becoming the fifth Earl for only four days before also dying. Robert Keith Rous – at that time a businessman and sheep grazier in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
– then inherited Henham and became the sixth Earl of Stradbroke. This was, however, not without difficulty and a protracted court battle led to a family feud.


Events and other uses

The estate hosts the Wings and Wheels and
Grand Henham Steam Rally The Grand Henham Steam Rally is a steam rally held every September at Henham Park near Southwold. It features displays of fixed and mobile steam engines and of vintage and classic cars and motorcycles. There are many events and activities, and cra ...
as well as remaining a working farm. Every July it hosts
Latitude Festival Latitude Festival is an annual music and arts festival set within the grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. The first edition of the festival took place in 2006 and has continued annually (apart from 2020 when it was cancel ...
, an annual arts festival of music, theatre and comedy which 40,000 people attend. A brewery was planned. Owner Hektor Rous hired spare capacity at other breweries (particularly Oakham and Green Jack) to brew his beers. Most production was for the annual Latitude festival in the park, though a small number of pubs and events were also supplied. Suffolk CAMRA report that production ceased about 2015, though confirmation has yet to be found. Bed and breakfast accommodation is located on the site as well as a series of walking trails.Henham Park Online
Retrieved 2009-09-03.


References


External links

*

— Milestones Web {{Coord, 52.3388, 1.5977, type:landmark_dim:3000_region:GB-SFK, display=title Gardens in Suffolk Country houses in Suffolk British country houses destroyed in the 20th century Edward Middleton Barry buildings East Suffolk (district)