Woolverstone Hall is a large country house, now in use as a school and available at times as a function venue, located south of the centre of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is set in on the banks of the

River Orwell The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at Stoke Bridge, about half a mile below where the river beco ...

. Built in 1776 for William Berners by the architect John Johnson of Leicestershire, it is an outstanding example of English

Palladian architecture Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

and is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

while associated buildings are Grade II. From 1951 to 1990, it housed

Woolverstone Hall School In the early 1950s the London County Council obtained use of Woolverstone Hall near Ipswich, Suffolk, and some of adjoining land for the purpose of establishing a secondary grammar boarding school for London boys. The premises were previously ...

, a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

operated by

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

(LCC).

History

It has been speculated that a Viking chieftain named Wulf sacrificed a native villager on a glacial monolithic stone, giving rise to the name ''Wulf's stone''.Smitherman, J. S. H
Woolverstone, the Estate and Hall—a condensed history
in ''Janus'', 21st anniversary edition, 1972.

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

recorded two manors in the area which were merged in the 13th century and presided over by a succession of families until 1773, when it was purchased for £14,000 by William Berners (died 1783). William Berners owned

Berners Street Berners Street is a thoroughfare located to the north of Oxford Street in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, originally developed as a residential street in the mid-18th century by property developer William Berners (property d ...

in London, which became known later for the Berners Street Hoax. He erected Woolverstone Hall in 1776. A high obelisk was erected in 1793 to William's memory by his son, Charles Berners (1767–1831),

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 ...

, which was damaged and demolished 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 ...

. In 1823, alterations and additions were done by Thomas Hoppe, including side wings. The estate passed to Charles's brother and, in the 1880s, Henry Denny Berners, LL.B.,

Archdeacon of Suffolk The Archdeacon of Suffolk is a senior cleric in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy in the territory of the archdeaconry. History The archdeaconry of Sudbury s ...

, resided at Woolverstone Hall. His son John became the next owner, followed in 1886 by John's brother, Hugh Berners (died 1891), a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

captain. The estate became the seat of Charles Hugh Berners, High Steward for

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

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 ...

, great-grandson of William Berners. The manor was sold to

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1937. It was requisitioned as a naval training establishment during

and, in 1950, the

took it over as a boys'

–

. In 1992, the property was sold to the

Girls' Day School Trust The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) is a group of 25 independent schools, including two academies, in England and Wales, catering for girls aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each yea ...

, who relocated Ipswich High School to Woolverstone Hall. In 2017, the property and school were purchased by Ipswich Education Ltd., a subsidiary of the China-oriented investment banker London & Oxford Group.Our Business
at londonandoxford.com. Retrieved 16 August 2020 Woolverstone Hall became a Grade I listed building on 22 February 1955.

Architecture and fittings

Woolverstone Hall comprises a central block with flanking wings connected by

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

s. The central block is of three storeys: a rusticated basement, first floor and attic, and has at its front centre a pediment supported by four Ionic columns. The house is built of

Woolpit Woolpit ( ) is a village in the English county of Suffolk, midway between the towns of Bury St. Edmunds and Stowmarket. In 2011 Woolpit parish had a population of 1,995. It is notable for the 12th-century legend of the green children of Wool ...

brick, with Coade stone ornamentation. The main living areas were originally in the central block while the wings contained offices, the kitchen, larders, laundry room, and a brewhouse. A 20th-century renovation added two-storey single-bay links to wings, and the attic. Internally, the building still contains the original

Adam style The Adam style (also called Adamesque or the Style of the Brothers Adam) is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and ...

fireplaces and ceilings decorated with

gold leaf upA gold nugget of 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 sq ft). The Japan.html" ;"title="Toi gold mine museum, Japan">Toi gold mine museum, Japan. Gold leaf is gold that has ...

. The modest staircase has a wrought-iron honeysuckle

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

. The apartments contain a collection of paintings by ancient and modern artists. The music room has been converted to become the Head's study.

Grounds

Originally situated in a 400-acre wooded park extending to the River Orwell, it sat opposite

Orwell Park Orwell Park was an estate in the village of Nacton in Suffolk developed by Edward Vernon, who lived there from 1725 until he died in the mansion on 30 October 1757. It was further developed by George Tomline (politician), George Tomline during t ...

, and contained a herd of fallow deer. The curved front offers views of the river and the

Nacton Nacton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The parish is bounded by the neighbouring parishes of Levington to the east and Bucklesham in the north. It is located between the to ...

shore.

References

External links

Parish of Woolverstone
at ''The English Home of Mr. Timothy Dalton, B. A.'', digitised text at Lane Memorial Library, NH
Scalable map of Woolverstone Hall

Savills 1990 sale catalogue, detailing history, accommodation and layout of the estate {{Babergh Country houses in Suffolk Grade I listed houses Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk Houses completed in 1776 Woolverstone Palladian architecture