![Spains Hall - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Spains_Hall_-_geograph.org.uk_-_308634.jpg)
Spains Hall is an
Elizabethan country house near
Finchingfield
Finchingfield is a village in the Braintree district in north-west Essex, England, a primarily rural area. It is approximately from Thaxted, farther from the larger towns of Saffron Walden and Braintree.
Nearby villages include Great Bardfield ...
in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
, England. The building has been Grade I listed since 1953.
The hall is named after Hervey de Ispania, who held the
manor at the time of the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
in 1086. From then until 2019, the land was continuously owned and occupied by three families – the de Ispania family, the Kempe family, who acquired it when Margery de Ispania married Nicholas Kempe in the early fifteenth century, and the Ruggles family (later the Ruggles-Brise family).
History
After the Kempe line ended, the house was bought in 1760 by Samuel Ruggles, a
clothier from
Bocking. His descendants, the Ruggles-Brise family, lived in the house until recently. Recent occupants include
Sir Edward Ruggles-Brise, 1st Baronet (1882–1942), and his son,
Sir John Ruggles-Brise, 2nd Baronet (1908–2007). In January 2019, celebrity chef
Jamie Oliver
James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
Oliver reac ...
purchased the hall.
The house and land
The current house dates to c. 1570, with earlier remains that include part of a medieval
king post
A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above f ...
roof. The principal
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...
was remodelled by William Kempe in approximately 1585 and
Dutch gable
A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a ...
s were added by Robert Kempe in 1637.
A park of approximately 7
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
s surrounding the house was landscaped to a plan by
Humphry Repton
Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...
near 1807. The new landscaping remade some of the series of early seventeenth-century fishponds as ornamental water features, which gradually, are being restored today. Nearer the house are a large (2 hectare) and early (sixteenth-century)
walled garden
A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate ...
, and a mid-nineteenth-century
formal garden
A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a forma ...
. The grounds also include the remains of a
moat around an earlier house.
[ ]
The house was designated as a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1953.
The listing summary completed in 1953 includes this summary: "Great house. Circa 1570, with C17, C18 and C19 additions, incorporating a fragment of an earlier house, c.1400-50. Red brick, mainly English bond, some Flemish bond, with some plastered timber framing, roofed with handmade red clay tiles".
The eighteenth-century
dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
and nineteenth-century
coach house
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coa ...
and
stables were converted in 2005 into an Essex venue for weddings, conferences, and other events. Conversion of Spains Hall followed and in 2010 it was opened to civil ceremonies, wedding receptions, parties, and corporate events.
Bakers of Danbury undertook restoration works to Spains Hall, winning a RICS conservation award in 2011 for East of England (Building Conservation category) for their work.
In January 2019 the house was purchased by British TV chef
Jamie Oliver
James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
Oliver reac ...
. The family moved into the building that year and made some changes, according to a news report: "Along with the greenhouse, the application also sought to make changes and repairs to windows in two bedrooms and the bay window in one of the mansion’s drawing rooms". As of early 2021, the Website for the Estate indicated that paying guests were accepted in self-catering cottages and a campsite; tour tickets were also available as were tickets to photography tours and "farm rides".
TV appearances
Spains Hall features in ''Around The Village Green'', a short black-and-white film about English village life from 1937 that can be seen for free online. It has also been seen on television in ''
The Only Way Is Essex
''The Only Way Is Essex'' (often abbreviated as ''TOWIE'' ) is a British reality television series based in Brentwood, Essex, England. It shows "real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way." Originally b ...
'' and an episode of BBC's Antiques Road Trip from March 2014 in which the owner, Sir Timothy Ruggles-Brise, recounts a tale of murder, mystery, and sunken treasure.
Other "Spains Halls"
Other historic houses named Spains Hall exist at
Willingale and Spaynes Hall in
Great Yeldham
Great Yeldham is a village in north Essex, England, about from the Suffolk border. Great Yeldham is situated along the busy main A1017 road (formerly A604) between Braintree, Essex, Braintree and Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill.
The village is w ...
, both also in Essex.
Notes
References
HistoryUnlocking Essex*
{{coord, 51.979224, N, 0.442807, E, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Houses completed in 1570
Country houses in Essex
Grade II* listed buildings in Essex
Grade I listed buildings in Essex
1570 establishments in England
Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Essex
Grade I listed houses
Finchingfield