Walcott Hall from the Hereward Way - geograph

Walcot Hall is a

Grade I 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 ...

Carolean country house in the hamlet of

Southorpe Southorpe is a settlement and civil parish in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. For electoral purposes it forms part of Barnack Barnack is a village and civil parish, now in the Peterborough unit ...

. It lies 2 km (1 mile) south of the village of

Barnack Barnack is a village and civil parish, now in the Peterborough unitary authority of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England and the historic county of Northamptonshire. Barnack is in the north-west of the unitary authority, south-east ...

, Cambridgeshire, UK. The house is now within the boundary of the

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

area of the ceremonial county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

but it was part of the

Soke of Peterborough The Soke of Peterborough is a historic area of England associated with the City and Diocese of Peterborough, but considered part of Northamptonshire. The Soke was also described as the Liberty of Peterborough, or Nassaburgh hundred, and compr ...

, an historic area that was traditionally associated with

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

Walcot_Hall,_near_Barnack,_Peterborough_-_geograph

It is constructed of limestone ashlar in 2 storeys with attic with a rectangular floor plan of 9 by 5 bays and a Collyweston stone roof. It stands in some 120 acres of wooded parkland as part of a 1400-acre agricultural estate.

History

George Whetstone (1544? – 1587) was an English dramatist and author. He was the third son of Robert Whetstone (d. 1557), a member of a wealthy family that owned the manor of Walcot at Barnack, near

Stamford, Lincolnshire Stamford is a town and civil parish in the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 19,701 and estimated at 20,645 in 2019. The town has 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed ...

. George appears to have had a small inheritance which he soon spent, The original hall on the site was owned by the Browne family whose members included Robert Browne MP. In 1662 the Brownes sold it to Bernard Walcot, who in turn sold it to Sir Hugh Cholmondeley c.1674. Sir Hugh built the present house in 1678 in place of the previous building. The architect is uncertain but the house shows the influence of John Webb. It was owned by the Gainsborough family between 1700 and 1720 and then the Nevile family until 1891. It was then sold to the Dearden family who owned it until 1963, when it was purchased by the Dennises. Members of both the Nevile and Dearden families served as

High Sheriff of Northamptonshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the respon ...

. During the Second World War the hall housed the remote

operations room A control room or operations room is a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger command center. Overview A control room's purpose is produc ...

for

RAF Wittering Royal Air Force Wittering or more simply RAF Wittering is a Royal Air Force station within the unitary authority area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire. Although Stamford, Lincolnshire, Sta ...

and was then occupied by the

67th Fighter Wing The 67th Fighter Wing was a unit of the United States Air Force for four years, between 1946 and 1950. It was located at Logan Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is unrelated to the modern 67th Network Warfare Wing. History World War II The 6 ...

of the United States

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

. Their operations room planned and directed many of the

Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

daylight raids on Germany. The estate is now a commercial agricultural landholding. The hall is occupied by Darby and Catherine Dennis who sued for compensation over Harrier noise from RAF Wittering.

References

{{coord, 52.6245, -0.4074, type:landmark_region:GB-NTH_dim:400, display=title Country houses in Cambridgeshire Grade I listed buildings in Cambridgeshire Country houses in Northamptonshire Grade I listed buildings in Northamptonshire Buildings and structures in Peterborough