Westhorpe Hall was a manor house in Westhorpe, Suffolk, England. Westhorpe Hall was the residence of

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, (22 August 1545) was an English military leader and courtier. Through his third wife, Mary Tudor, he was brother-in-law to King Henry VIII. Biography Charles Brandon was the second ...

and of Princess Mary (daughter of King Henry VII and sister of King Henry VIII), a love match and second marriage for Mary (she was briefly Queen consort of France as wife of

Louis XII Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...

) and third marriage for Charles. He was previously married to the wealthy widow Margaret Neville, and then Anne Browne, mother to Charles's two eldest daughters, Anne Brandon and Mary Brandon. There, they raised their children,

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...

(mother of Lady Jane Grey),

Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was introd ...

, and

Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln Henry Brandon, Earl of Lincoln (c. before 18 June 1523 – 1 March 1534) was the youngest child and second son born to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, Queen of France, who was a daughter of Henry VII, King of England. Thus ...

. Princess Mary Tudor died at Westhorpe Hall where her body was embalmed and held in state for three weeks. When the house was being demolished in the late 1760s, the site was visited by the antiquarian

Thomas Martin of Palgrave Thomas Martin (8 March 1696/7 – 7 March 1771), known as "Honest Tom Martin of Palgrave", was an antiquarian and lawyer. Early life Martin was born at Thetford in the school house of St. Mary's parish, which is the only parish of that town si ...

"I went to see the dismal ruins of Westhorpe Hall, formerly the seat of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. The workmen are now pulling it down as fast as may be, in a very careless and injudicious manner. The coping bricks,
battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...
s and many other ornamental pieces, are made of earth, and burnt hard, as fresh as when first built. They might, with care, have been taken down whole, but all the fine chimnies, and ornaments were pulled down with ropes, and crushed to pieces in a most shameful manner. There was a monstrous figure of Hercules sitting cross legged with his club, and a lion beside him, but all shattered in pieces. The painted glass is likely to share the same fate. The timber is fresh and sound, and the building, which was very lofty, stood as when it was first built. It is a pity that care is not taken to preserve some few of our ancient fabrics."

Part of the household office stands, now a retirement home facing the village green. It has late 16th- and early 17th-century timber-framed and plastered range; a red brick main block is early 18th century, remodelled in the late 18th century, following the demolition of the manor house. All surviving structures have been altered in the 20th century.British Listed Buildings: Westhorpe, the Green
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References

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