Honingham Hall was a large country house at

Honingham Honingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, located to the west of Norwich along the A47 trunk road. It covers an area of and had a population of 342 in 145 households at the 2001 census,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 ...

History

The house was commissioned by

Sir Thomas Richardson Sir Thomas Richardson (1569 – 4 February 1635) of Honingham in Norfolk,RICHARDSON, Thomas, 2nd Baron Cramond (1627-74), of Honingham, Norf. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 198/ref> wa ...

, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in 1605. After passing down the

Richardson family Richardson may refer to: People * Richardson (surname), an English and Scottish surname * Richardson Gang, a London crime gang in the 1960s * Richardson Dilworth, Mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962) Places Australia *Richardson, Australian Capit ...

it was bought by

Richard Baylie Richard Baylie (1585 – 27 July 1667) was twice President of St John's College, Oxford, twice Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Archdeacon of Nottingham and Dean of the Salisbury Cathedral. Baylie was President of St John's College, Oxford ...

, President of

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

, in about 1650 and was then acquired by William Townsend,

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

in about 1735, before passing down the

Townsend family Townsend (pronounced tounʹ-zənd) or Townshend may refer to: Places United States *Camp Townsend, National Guard training base in Peekskill, New York *Townsend, Delaware *Townsend, Georgia *Townsend, Massachusetts, a New England town ** Townsend ...

. In 1887 it was inherited by Ailwyn Fellowes, 1st Baron Ailwyn and in 1924 by

Ronald Fellowes, 2nd Baron Ailwyn Lt.-Col. Ronald Townshend Fellowes, 2nd Baron Ailwyn (7 December 1886 – 30 August 1936) was a British peer, the son of Ailwyn Edward Fellowes, 1st Baron Ailwyn. He succeeded to the Barony on 23 September 1924. He lived at Honingham Hall in ...

who sold it in 1935. It was then bought by Sir Eric Teichman, a diplomat, who allowed it to become a

Barnardo's Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same group ...

home in 1940 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Teichman was murdered in the grounds of the hall by a poacher one night in December 1944. The killer was Private George E. Smith of Pittsburgh who, with Private Leonard S. Wijpacha of Detroit, was trespassing in the grounds of the estate. Both intruders were American soldiers based at a nearby US airfield and each was armed with an M1 carbine. The house closed as a Barnardo's home December 1966 and was subsequently

demolished Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

References

{{coord, 52.6687, N, 1.1224, E, region:GB-BKM_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Norfolk Honingham