Felbrigg Hall

Felbrigg Hall is a 17th-century country house located in Felbrigg, Norfolk, England. Part of a National Trust property, the unaltered 17th-century house is noted for its Jacobean architecture and fine Georgian interior. Outside the house are a walled garden, an orangery and orchards.

History

Felbrigg estate, originally home to the Felbrigg family, was long the home of members of the Wyndham family, since the first John Wyndham (d. 1475), acquired the estate from the Felbrigg family. Thomas Wyndham (d. 1522) was a councilor to King Henry VIII. Later residents included John Wyndham (1558–1645), probably the builder of Felbrigg Hall. The last Wyndham of Felbrigg was William Wyndham (d. 1810).

The last owner of the house before it passed into National Trust ownership was Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer. The original heir, Robert's brother Richard, was killed in action in the Second World War. A memorial to Richard Ketton-Cremer was constructed in the woods behind the house by Robert. Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer wrote a number of books, particularly about Norfolk, including Felbrigg: the Story of a House, and Norfolk in the Civil War, Faber, 1969. In the latter, he indicates his health is failing. Robert Ketton-Cremer never married, and with no heirs, left the estate to the National Trust on his death in 1969. Part of the estate was acquired by the Beeston Hall school.

Felbrigg

Coordinates: 52°54′33″N 1°16′45″E / 52.90919°N 1.27922°E / 52.90919; 1.27922

Felbrigg is a small village just south of Cromer in Norfolk, England. The Danish name means a 'plank bridge'.

Historians believe that the original village was clustered around its Perpendicular church, in the grounds of Felbrigg Hall, a Jacobean mansion built in the early 17th century, a mile to the east of the present village.

In the church are some fine 14th-century brasses of Sir Simon de Felbrigge and his wife, the original Lord of the Manor here.

The Felbrigg Estate

The Felbrigg Estate, owned by the National Trust, is close to the village lying to the east. The estate covers some 1,760 acres (7.1 km²) of parkland and mixed woodland. The dominant feature is the 520-acre (2.1 km²) Great Wood which shelters the house. The estate has particular significance through the connections with Nathaniel Kent and Humphry Repton, both of whom were involved at Felbrigg in the early stages of their careers. A lake, which is invisible from the Hall, was created in the mid-18th century by damming the Scarrow Beck. A pleasant and attractive feature, the lake encourages a wide range of bio-diversity. To the west and north, pasture woodland merges into the Great Wood. Local residents continue to enjoy access to the network of footpaths, many being old rights of way, which run through grassland, woodland pasture and woods. Especially popular is the well-known “Lions Mouth”, a very pretty beauty spot which can be reached from the main road A148 and is particularly popular with walkers and ramblers. Particular care is taken with veteran trees, and there is a programme for gradual replacement of small 20th-century softwood plantations by hardwoods, notably sweet chestnut, beech and oak, which have long grown here.

National trust

A national trust is an organisation dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of a particular geographic region. Although the focus of a national trust may vary by region, the principal role is to ensure the preservation of historically significant items, and to conserve areas of natural beauty. National trusts generally operate as private non-profit organizations. The first such trust organisation, The Trustees of Reservations, originated in 1890 as a regional group serving the state of Massachusetts, USA. The first national trust, the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, was founded in England in 1895 and operates as a charitable organisation serving England, Wales and Northern Ireland (it is commonly known in the UK as the National Trust). Other national trusts have since been set up around the world.

In 2007, the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) was established at a gathering in New Delhi, India, with a mandate to support collaboration and best practices among national trusts and similar associations. It has member organisations from over 50 countries.

Hall

In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers. Later, rooms were partitioned from it, and the space next to the front door became the entrance hall. Today, the (entrance) hall of a house is the space next to the front door or vestibule leading to the rooms directly and/or indirectly. Where the hall inside the front door of a house is elongated, it may be called a passage, corridor (from Spanish corredor used in El Escorial and 100 years later in Castle Howard) or hallway.

Other meanings

The term hall is often used to designate a British or Irish country house such as a hall house, or specifically a Wealden hall house, and manor houses.

In later medieval Europe, the main room of a castle or manor house was the great hall. In a medieval building, the hall was where the fire was kept. With time, its functions as dormitory, kitchen, parlour and so on were divided off to separate rooms or, in the case of the kitchen, a separate building.