Woolverstone Hall is a large country house, now in use as a school and available at times as a function venue, located south of the centre of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is set in on the banks of the

River Orwell The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at Stoke Bridge, where the river becomes tidal. It broadens into ...

. Built in 1776 for William Berners by the architect John Johnson of Leicestershire, it is an outstanding example of English

Palladian architecture Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

and is 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 ...

while associated buildings are Grade II. From 1951 to 1990, it housed

Woolverstone Hall School In the early 1950s the London County Council obtained use of Woolverstone Hall near Ipswich, Suffolk, and some of adjoining land for the purpose of establishing a secondary grammar boarding school for London boys. The premises were previously o ...

, a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

operated by

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

(LCC).

History

It has been speculated that a Viking chieftain named Wulf sacrificed a native villager on a glacial monolithic stone, giving rise to the name ''Wulf's stone''.Smitherman, J. S. H
Woolverstone, the Estate and Hall—a condensed history
in ''Janus'', 21st anniversary edition, 1972.

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 manusc ...

recorded two manors in the area which were merged in the 13th century and presided over by a succession of families until 1773, when it was purchased for £14,000 by William Berners (died 1783). William Berners owned

Berners Street Berners Street is a thoroughfare located to the north of Oxford Street in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, originally developed as a residential street in the mid-18th century by property developer William Berners (property de ...

in London, which became known later for the

Berners Street Hoax The Berners Street hoax was perpetrated by Theodore Hook in Westminster, London, England, in 1809. Hook had made a bet with his friend Samuel Beazley that he could transform any house in London into the most talked-about address in a week, whi ...

. He erected Woolverstone Hall in 1776. A high obelisk was erected in 1793 to William's memory by his son, Charles Berners (1767–1831),

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

, which was damaged and demolished 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 ...

. In 1823, alterations and additions were done by Thomas Hoppe, including side wings. The estate passed to Charles's brother and, in the 1880s, Henry Denny Berners, LL.B.,

Archdeacon of Suffolk The Archdeacon of Suffolk is a senior cleric in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy in the territory of the archdeaconry. History Originally in the Dioceses of No ...

, resided at Woolverstone Hall. His son John became the next owner, followed in 1886 by John's brother, Hugh Berners (died 1891), a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

captain. The estate became the seat of Charles Hugh Berners, High Steward for

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

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 G ...

, great-grandson of William Berners. The manor was sold to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1937. It was requisitioned as a naval training establishment during

and, in 1950, the

took it over as a boys'

. In 1992, the property was sold to the

Girls' Day School Trust The Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) is a group of 25 independent schools, including two academies, in England and Wales, catering for girls aged 3 to 18. It is the largest group of independent schools in the UK, and educates 20,000 girls each ye ...

, who relocated Ipswich High School to Woolverstone Hall. In 2017, the property and school were purchased by Ipswich Education Ltd., a subsidiary of the China-oriented investment banker London & Oxford Group.Our Business
at londonandoxford.com. Retrieved 16 August 2020 Woolverstone Hall became a Grade I listed building on 22 February 1955.

Architecture and fittings

Woolverstone Hall comprises a central block with flanking wings connected by

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

s. The central block is of three storeys: a rusticated basement, first floor and attic, and has at its front centre a pediment supported by four Ionic columns. The house is built of

Woolpit Woolpit ( ) is a village in the English county of Suffolk, midway between the towns of Bury St. Edmunds and Stowmarket. In 2011 Woolpit parish had a population of 1,995. It is notable for the 12th-century legend of the green children of Woolpit ...

brick, with Coade stone ornamentation. The main living areas were originally in the central block while the wings contained offices, the kitchen, larders, laundry room, and a brewhouse. A 20th-century renovation added two-storey single-bay links to wings, and the attic. Internally, the building still contains the original

Adam style The Adam style (or Adamesque and "Style of the Brothers Adam") is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and James (173 ...

fireplaces and ceilings decorated with

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

. The modest staircase has a wrought-iron honeysuckle

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

. The apartments contain a collection of paintings by ancient and modern artists. The music room has been converted to a library.

Grounds

Originally situated in a 400-acre wooded park extending to the River Orwell, it sat opposite

Orwell Park Orwell Park was an estate in the village of Nacton developed by Edward Vernon, who lived there from 1725 until he died in the mansion on 30 October 1757. It was further developed by George Tomline during the late nineteenth century. It has been t ...

, and contained a herd of fallow deer. The curved front offers views of the river and the

Nacton Nacton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The parish is bounded by the neighbouring parishes of Levington to the east and Bucklesham in the north. It is located between the towns of Ipswich and Felixs ...

shore.

References

External links

Parish of Woolverstone
at ''The English Home of Mr. Timothy Dalton, B. A.'', digitised text at Lane Memorial Library, NH
Scalable map of Woolverstone Hall

Savills 1990 sale catalogue, detailing history, accommodation and layout of the estate {{Babergh Country houses in Suffolk Grade I listed houses Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk Houses completed in 1776 Woolverstone Palladian architecture