Ellingham Hall is an historic country house in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, near the town of Bungay, about northeast of London. It is located just north of the border with Suffolk and is sometimes misdescribed as lying in that county. It is situated in of countryside in the Waveney Valley 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 often extended to include the relatively short reign of Will ...

, 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 (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...

'' 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 land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other 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 who has a ...

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 rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

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. Ellingham Hall is currently owned by

Vaughan Smith Henry Vaughan Lockhart Smith (born 22 July 1963) is an English restaurateur, sustainable farmer, and freelance video journalist. He ran the freelance agency Frontline News TV and founded the Frontline Club in London. ''The Guardian'' has d ...

, former British Army officer, journalist and founder of the

Frontline Club The Frontline Club is a media club and registered charity located near Paddington Station in London. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support div ...

in London. The estate is the site of a large organic 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 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.

Refuge

In December 2010, Ellingham Hall became a refuge for

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

founder Julian Assange, 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=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20025866-503543.html , 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