Melford Hall is a

stately home 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 the village of

Long Melford Long Melford, colloquially and historically also referred to as Melford, is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour, ...

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 ...

, England. Since 1786 it has been the seat of the Parker Baronets and is still lived in by the Hyde Parker family. Since 1960 it has been owned by the National Trust. The hall was mostly constructed in the 16th century, incorporating parts of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

building held by the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

s of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

which had been in use since before 1065. It has similar roots to nearby Kentwell Hall. It passed from the abbots during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and was later granted by Queen Mary to Sir

William Cordell Sir William Cordell (about 1522 – 17 May 1581) of Melford Hall in the parish of Long Melford, Suffolk, was an English lawyer, landowner, administrator and politician who held high offices under both the Catholic Queen Mary I and the ...

. From Cordell it passed via his sister to Thomas and Mary Savage before being sold back into another male Cordell line.

James Howell James Howell (c. 1594 – 1666) was a 17th-century Anglo-Welsh historian and writer who is in many ways a representative figure of his age. The son of a Welsh clergyman, he was for much of his life in the shadow of his elder brother Thomas Ho ...

described the hall and garden in the times of Elizabeth Savage, Countess Rivers in a letter in 1619. During the Stour Valley Riots of 1642 the house was attacked and damaged by an anti-Catholic crowd. In 1786 it was sold to

Sir Harry Parker, 6th Baronet Sir Harry Parker, 6th Baronet (1735–1812), was from a distinguished naval family and inherited his title on the death of his father, Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, in 1782. Harry Parker bought Melford Hall in Suffolk in 1786, and the Baronetcy su ...

, son of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet.

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...

was a cousin of the family and was a frequent visitor to the hall from the 1890s onwards. One wing of the hall was gutted by fire in February 1942 but rebuilt after World War II, retaining the external Tudor

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...

with 1950s interior design. The hall was first opened to the public in 1955 by Ulla, Lady Hyde Parker. In 1958 Sue Ryder leased the south wing to house her holiday scheme for Polish concentration camp survivors. This scheme, which ran at Melford Hall for 11 years, eventually grew into her work with charity Sue Ryder. In 1960 it passed to the

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 ...

. It is generally open on weekend afternoons in April and October, and on afternoons from Wednesday to Sunday during May to September. The Hall grounds host a number of events including the "Big Night Out" every November to mark

Guy Fawkes Night Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration list of minor secular observances#November, observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and firewor ...

and from 2013 the annual LeeStock Music Festival

References

External links

Melford Hall on the National Trust websiteVideo of exterior of Melford Hall
{{Beatrix Potter Historic house museums in Suffolk Country houses in Suffolk Grade I listed houses Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk National Trust properties in Suffolk Long Melford Beatrix Potter