Ellingham Hall, Norfolk Ellingham Hall is a historic

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, near the town of

Bungay Bungay () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . It lies in the Waveney Valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at th ...

, about northeast of London. It is located just north of the border with

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 ...

and is sometimes misdescribed as lying in that county. It is situated in of countryside in the

Waveney Valley Waveney Valley is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament, created following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. Since its first election in 2024, it has been represented by Adrian Ramsay of the Green Part ...

just outside the village of Ellingham.

Description

Built from grey brick in the 18th century during the

Georgian period The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is also often extended to include the relatively short reign ...

, Ellingham Hall is a three-storey building with five bays, a large central doorway and ten bedrooms. It was modified in the Victorian period with the addition of a large window on either side with four rounded windows and parapet. Two bay wings stand on either side of the main building, standing two and a half stories high, with ground floor windows set in blank arches. At the rear is a Victorian ''

porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; ; ; ) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like structure at a main or secondary entrance to a building through which originally a ...

'' set on

Ionic columns The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

Ownership

The hall was bought in 1799 by the Reverend William Johnson (d. 1807) from the trustees of Michael Hicks Beach. At the time the surrounding estate was

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

for the village of Ellingham, but Johnson was granted Parliamentary permission for its

enclosure Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...

in 1806. It passed to his daughter Maria and her husband Henry Smith, who laid out a park in the estate and probably rebuilt the hall at around this time. Colonel John Smith of the 2nd Madras Light Cavalry inherited the hall in 1846 after Maria's death. A keen hunter, Smith brought back to Ellingham Hall the remains of six of the 99 tigers he is said to have shot during his tour of duty in India. Whilst serving in India, Colonel John Smith re-discovered the

Ajanta Caves The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Buddhist caves in India, Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century Common Era, BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, Aurangabad district of Maharashtra sta ...

which are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ellingham Hall is currently owned by Vaughan Smith, former British Army officer (

Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

), journalist and founder of the

Frontline Club The Frontline Club is a media club and registered charity created by Vaughan and Pranvera Smith, located near Paddington Station in London. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effe ...

in London. The estate is the site of a large

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

farm managed by Smith himself along with two employees. The produce is served in the Frontline Club in its public restaurant. The estate also offers

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

shooting. The Smiths have run a shoot on the estate for at least four generations; Vaughan Smith himself hosts the events, saying that he is "partial to shooting", following in the footsteps of his equally enthusiastic father and grandfather.

Scandal

The Hall was also the setting for the August 1887 "Hughes-Hallett Scandal" between Francis Hughes-Hallett and Lady Beatrice Selwyn (Hughes-Hallett's step-daughter and Henry Smith's niece). Ellingham Hall was notorious for its collection of 'man eater tigers' brought back to the Hall by Colonel John Smith of 2nd Madras Light Cavalry. Whilst serving in India, Colonel John Smith re-discovered the Ajanta Caves which are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Refuge

In December 2010, Ellingham Hall became a refuge for

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

founder

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...

, who was released on bail on condition that he stayed at a fixed address – namely Ellingham Hall, which Smith offered as a temporary place of residence for Assange. The bail conditions were jokingly referred to as "mansion arrest" by one of Assange's lawyers. Assange remained at Ellingham until December 2011.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title=Burke's and Savills Guide to Country Houses, Vol. 3: East Anglia , last=Kenworthy-Brown , first=John , year=1981 , publisher=Burke's Peerage , isbn=978-0-85011-035-7 , page=109 {{cite book , title=The archaeology of the landscape park: garden design in Norfolk, England, c. 1680–1840 , last=Williamson , first=Tom , year=1998 , publisher=Archaeopress , isbn=978-0-86054-881-2 , page=230 {{cite news , title=Julian Assange furore deepens as new details emerge of sex crime allegations , first1=Tracy , last1=McVeigh , first2=Mark , last2=Townsend , url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/18/julian-assange-allegations-wikileaks-cables , newspaper=The Guardian , date=18 December 2010 , access-date=20 February 2011 {{cite news , title=Julian Assange offered bail haven at former soldier's Norfolk manor , first1=Luke , last1=Harding , first2=Jones , last2=Sam , url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/14/julian-assange-bail-vaughan-smith , newspaper=The Guardian , date=14 December 2010 , access-date=20 February 2011 {{cite news , title=Just Where Is WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange's "Mansion Arrest"? , first=Joshua , last=Norman , url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/just-where-is-wikileaks-founder-julian-assanges-mansion-arrest/ , newspaper=CBS News , date=16 December 2010 , access-date=20 February 2011

External links

Aerial photos of Ellingham Hall
(Rex Features)
Ellingham Hall Facebook Group
Houses completed in the 18th century Georgian architecture in England Country houses in Norfolk South Norfolk