Thorington Street is a large

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

on the B1068 road, in the Babergh district, in the English county 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 hamlet is part of the civil parish of

Stoke-by-Nayland Stoke-by-Nayland is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Babergh District, Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England, close to the border with Essex. The parish includes the village of Withermarsh Green and th ...

, and is located in between the villages of Stoke-by-Nayland and Higham. The hamlet has approximately 35 houses.

Thorington Hall

Thorington Hall is a Grade-II* Listed manor house, owned and managed by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, but not regularly open to the public.Thorington Hall - Stoke-by-Nayland - Suffolk - England , British Listed Buildings
/ref> It is described as "one of the best timber-framed houses in Suffolk".Visitor information – National Trust
/ref> The building is timber-framed and plastered. The original house dated from the 16th-century, but little is known about it. The core of the house dates from the 17th-century, but was extended in the following century. The house also displays Witches' Mark (also known as Apotropaic Marks), and several other superstitious practices, including shoes which were left behind walls, bones under the floors and burns on the attic ceilings caused by candles (all thought to ward off evil spirits). The house was owned by Thomas May until his death in 1645, after which passed through two more generations of his family, both also called Thomas May. In 1700 Thorington Hall was bought by a London Merchant called Bedingfield Heighman and his wife Esther. They extended the house and changed which way the house faced, creating the current entrance. Following their deaths Thorington Hall passed to their daughter, Hester Wade and then, in 1741, to her uncle Thomas White.History – National Trust
/ref> Thomas White sold the house in 1746 to Vice-Admiral Sir Joshua Rowley, Bart, of nearby Tendring Hall. Thorington Hall was then incorporated into the Tendring Hall estate and leased as a farmhouse. The same family held the tenancy from 1784 to 1901. The English physician

Henry Bence Jones Henry Bence Jones FRS (31 December 1813 – 20 April 1873) was an English physician and chemist. Early life Bence Jones was born at Thorington Hall, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, the son of Lieutenant Colonel William Jones, an officer in the 5t ...

, son of Lieutenant-Colonel William Jones, was born in the Hall on 31 December 1813.Payne J F (2004) ‘Jones, Henry Bence (1813 –1873 )’, rev . N. G. Coley, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. By 1912, Thorington Hall had fallen into disrepair, and by 1937 was "practically derelict". It was purchased the same year by Professor Lionel Penrose who restored the house and donated it to the

in 1940. The Penrose family continued to live in the house until 1973. During the Penrose's tennancy, the house was used as an evacuation hostel for the

Friends Relief Service The Friends Relief Service (FRS) was a voluntary humanitarian relief organisation formally established by a committee of Britain Yearly Meeting in November 1940. Largely staffed by pacifists and conscientious objectors, its aim was to provide hu ...

. Elderly Londoners who had lost their homes 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 ...

came to live at the Hall. These residents included "an old lady with a fondness for yodelling" and two widowed evacuees who married after meeting at the hall. The Penrose family left in 1973. In 1976 the National Trust leased the house to "Mr and Mrs Wollaston" who lived in the hall until 2007. The house required modernisation as there was "stinging nettles growing under bookshelves and toothpaste freezing in the tube in winter". The house was modernised following the departure of the Wollaston's, which included installing new plumbing and heating systems and upgrading the bathrooms and kitchen. The house is again leased to a private tenant but is still owned and managed by the National Trust. The house is not regularly open to the public but has been known to take part in Heritage Open Days.

References

{{Babergh Hamlets in Suffolk Stoke-by-Nayland