Smallbridge Hall is a

Grade II* listed 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 ...

English country house 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 town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in Bures St. Mary,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, near

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

, England. The house is partially surrounded by a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

and stands on the bank of the River Stour. The present building is one wing of a large two-storey red-brick

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

mansion. It was heavily restored once c.1874 and again in 1932.

History

The

Waldegrave family Waldegrave is the name of an English family, said to derive from Walgrave in Northamptonshire, who long held the manor of Smallbridge in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk. History Sir Richard Waldegrave served as a Knight of the Shire in 1339 in Linc ...

had been the owners of the Smallbridge hall and the

Wormingford Wormingford is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. The ancient parish of Wormingford on the south bank of the River Stour, north- west of Colchester and south-east of Sudbury, Suffolk, covered 2,322 acres (929 hectares). The Stour ...

estate which is on the other bank of the River Stour from at least the 14th century. The Smallbridge hall had come into their possession when Sir Richard Waldegrave married Joan, the widow of Sir Robert de Bures. Around 1555, Sir William Waldegrave rebuilt the house, and received Queen Elizabeth there in 1561. The property remained with the Waldegrave family until c.1700 when it was sold to pay debts. The hall has been owned by many other families after that. It was once rebuilt c.1893 and further restored by Lady Phylis Macrae, daughter of the

Marchioness A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, in 1932.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Smallbridge Hall
Country houses in Suffolk Grade II* listed buildings in Suffolk Elizabethan architecture Grade II* listed houses Babergh District

History

See also

References

External links