Felbrigg Hall, near Holt, Norfolk - geograph

Felbrigg Hall, Gardens & Estate(NT) 04-06-2012

Felbrigg Hall is a 17th-century

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 ...

near the village of that name in Norfolk. Part of a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

property, the unaltered 17th-century house is noted for its

Jacobean architecture The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign there ...

and fine Georgian interior. Outside is a

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 ...

, an

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

and orchards. The house and grounds were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1969 by Robert Ketton-Cremer. The hall is Grade I on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

. Most of the grounds are part of Felbrigg Woods, a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

History

The estate originated with the Felbrigg family. It passed to John Wyndham (died 1475) and remained in that family for centuries. Thomas Wyndham (died 1522) was a councillor to King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. Later, residents included

John Wyndham (1558–1645) Sir John Wyndham (1558 – 1 April 1645), JP, of Orchard Wyndham in the parish of Watchet in Somerset, was an English landowner who played an important role in the establishment of defence organisation in the West Country against the threat ...

who was probably the builder of Felbrigg Hall. The last Wyndham or Windham of Felbrigg was William Wyndham (died 1810). Much land had been added to the medieval estate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Above the entablature the family arms and the projecting bays bear the words GLORIA DEO IN EXCELSIS in pierced stone, surmounted by heraldic beasts. The last owner of the house, before it passed into National Trust ownership, was

Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, (2 May 1906 – 12 December 1969) was an English landowner, biographer and historian. He bequeathed his family seat, Felbrigg Hall, to the National Trust. Early life Robert Wyndham Cremer was born in Plympton, De ...

. His heir, his brother Richard, was killed in action in the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. Robert's memorial to Richard is in the woods behind the house. Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer wrote a number of books, particularly about Norfolk, including ''Felbrigg: the Story of a House'', and ''Norfolk in the Civil War'', Faber, 1969. Robert Ketton-Cremer never married, and with no heirs, left the estate to the National Trust on his death in 1969. Part of the estate was acquired by Beeston Hall School. Christopher Mackie was the administrator, or houseman, of Felbrigg Hall until 1990. His wife

Mary Mackie Mary Mackie (née Kathleen Mary Whitlam, born early 1940s) is an English writer of over 70 fiction and non-fiction books since 1971. Work of hers has been translated into 20 languages. She is known especially for light-hearted accounts of life lo ...

wrote three books on their experiences there: ''Cobwebs and Cream Teas'', ''Dry Rot and Daffodils'' and ''Frogspawn and Floor Polish''.

Today

Today the Felbrigg estate covers approximately 1,760

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s (about 7 km²) of parkland including the of Great Wood, which shelters the house. There is public access to the grounds along a number of waymarked walks through the estate, including the Weavers' Way long-distance footpath.

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

regional routes 33 and 30 also pass through the estate.

The gardens

Felbrigg garden is laid out in two different styles. The west garden is laid out in the style of a typical Victorian pleasure ground, arranged around an 18th-century

. Accentuating the play between light and shade, its formal lawns are interspersed with areas of dark shrubbery. This garden features a number of specimens from North America including

red oaks The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...

western red cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae ...

s, and a meadow with a

. There are double borders of mixed shrubs, a

herbaceous border A herbaceous border is a collection of perennial herbaceous plants (plants that live for more than two years and are soft-stemmed and non-woody) arranged closely together, usually to create a dramatic effect through colour, shape or large scale. ...

, and more. The orchard has been planted with varieties of fruit known to have grown in the garden during the 19th century. The gardens are home to the

National Collection The UK National Collection is a collection of around 280 historic rail vehicles (predominantly of British origin). The majority of the collection is kept at four national museums: * National Railway Museum, York * Locomotion, Shildon * Scienc ...

colchicum ''Colchicum'' ( or ) is a genus of perennial flowering plants containing around 160 species which grow from bulb-like corms. It is a member of the botanical family Colchicaceae, and is native to West Asia, Europe, parts of the Mediterranean coa ...

s. The gardens are Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens and Felbrigg Woods is a

National Trust controversy

To mark the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of sexual activity between men in England and Wales, the National Trust in summer 2017 organised a "Prejudice and Pride" campaign highlighting the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

themes in its properties. At Felbrigg Hall, a short film narrated by

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

stated that Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer had been widely known to be

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

, though others claimed that this was only known by his close friends. Two of Ketton-Cremer's godchildren criticised the decision, claiming that a public

outing Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...

would have been against Ketton-Cremer's wishes and accusing the Trust of using their godfather to generate publicity. The Trust also requested that volunteers wear a badge featuring the charity's logo atop the colours of the LGBT pride flag. Of the house's 350 volunteers, ten refused and were asked to take backstage roles during the campaign. Sections of the press called on the Trust to reverse its decision, and some members cancelled their membership over the issue. The Trust subsequently U-turned on the wearing of badges.

References

External links

{{Commons category
National Trust profile
Country houses in Norfolk Grade I listed buildings in Norfolk Grade I listed houses Historic house museums in Norfolk Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom National Trust properties in Norfolk Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Norfolk Wyndham family residences Felbrigg