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Kentwell Hall, Long Melford, Suffolk

 

Moat House at Kentwell Hall. This image is copyright free

Kentwell Hall in Long Melford, Suffolk is a fascinating mixture of history, and the illusion of history. Some of the present buildings are genuinely ancient, reflecting the fact that Kentwell is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, under the name of Kanewella. The oldest building at Kentwell today is thought to be Moat House, which was probably built in the early fifteenth century. This building dates back to a style of architecture very different to our own. There were no rooms with different functions. Instead people lived in one open hall. There was a fire in the middle of the floor, with smoke collecting in the roof space and eventually escaping through eaves. Other parts of the house were added by the Copton family in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. But then in 1826 a fire broke out which destroyed a large part of the central portion of the house. This prompted owner Robert Hart Logan to hire fashionable Victorian architect Thomas Hopper, to rebuild the damaged areas. Hopper was an expert in mock historical architecture, creating for example Penrhyn Castle, a country house in Bangor, north Wales in the form of a Norman Castle. Hopper applied his talents to Kentwell Hall, rebuilding in a combination of historical styles - English Jacobean, Scottish Baronial and Gothic. After Hopper had completed his work, Kentwell Hall became a beguiling combination of genuinely ancient buildings, and rather theatrical buildings with a look of antiquity. Often we are more at home with how we think the past looked rather than how it actually looked. Perhaps that is why film directors often use places like Kentwell Hall as film locations in historical movies. Films made at Kentwell Hall include Witchfinder General (1968), and The Wind In The Willows (1996). Television productions include The Woman In White (1982), No Excuses (1983), Royal Deaths And Diseases (2003), Days That Shook The World, Affairs Of The Crown (2004), The Gunpowder Plot, Exploding The Legend (2004). Many historical re enactments are also staged at Kentwell Hall. There have been regular Tudor re enactments based around various themes since 1979. Second World war re enactments have been staged since the mid 1990s. At Christmas there are Victorian themed celebrations and markets.

 

 

Opening Times: Opening days are complicated. Be careful on Saturdays in particular when the house may close at short notice for functions. Use contact details below.

Directions: Kentwell Hall is just off the A134 between Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury. Click here for an interactive map centred on Kentwell Hall.

Address: Kentwell Hall, Long Melford, Suffolk CO10 9BA

Access: There is disabled access on the ground floor of the house only. The grounds are partly accessible. Adapted toilet facilities are provided.

Contact:

telephone: 01787 310207

fax: 01787 379318

web site: http://www.kentwell.co.uk/