Berden Hall

Berden Hall
Location within Essex
General information
Type Private house, stately home
Architectural style Elizabethan
Location Berden, Uttlesford, Essex, England
Coordinates 51°56′41″N 0°08′01″E / 51.9447°N 0.1336°E / 51.9447; 0.1336
Completed 1580s

Berden Hall is a Grade II* listed Elizabethan country house in Berden, Uttlesford, Essex. The house was built in the 1580s. As of 2012, the house was on the market for £3.5 million.

History

A manor house existed in Berden in medieval times when the Rochford family were lords of the manor here and probably founded the nearby priory.[1] In 1583 it passed to Sir Thomas Ramsey who gave the estate and priory to the mayor of London and governors of several hospitals.[1]

The current red brick house is Elizabethan, built in the 1580s.[2] The house is very similar to Toseland Hall in Huntingdonshire, built about 20 years later, with an identical outline, but different details.[2][3] Further additions were made in the 17th century when it was owned by the Meade family,[4] and the rainwater heads bear the date 1655.[5] In the 1780s Thomas Hawkes owned Berden Hall,[6] and as of 1801 it still belonged to the Hawkes family.[7]

Berden Hall became a Grade II* listed building on 26 November 1951.[5] As of June 2012 the house was on the market for £3.75 million with Bidwells.[8]

Architecture

Clive Aslet of The Daily Telegraph notes the "thick lime mortar joints that give a sparkle to Berden Hall’s facades", and remarks that the red bricks used on the house are longer and thinner than those later used during the Georgian period.[8] The house has three straight gables to each side and mullion-and-transom-cross windows, dated to the 17th century.[9] There is a triple arch at the central doorway to the house, and inside is a winding 6 feet (1.8 m) wide Tudor staircase.[9] The house has 8 bedrooms, one of which is a Master Suite with two dressing rooms, a reception hall, drawing room, sitting room, dining Room, kitchen, utility room, cloakroom, 5 bathrooms, 2 studies, a snooker room, a squash and tennis court and in indoor swimming pool, and outer staff buildings and stable block.[10] The gardens contain a quaint lake, footbridge and paddock in about 17 acres. There is a granary to the east of the house, about 120 yards (110 m) south of the village church.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Society of Antiquaries. 1859. p. 268.
  2. 1 2 Thirsk, Joan; Finberg, H. P. R. (1967). The Agrarian History of England and Wales: 1500-1640, edited by Joan Thirsk. Cambridge University Press. p. 714. ISBN 978-0-521-06617-4.
  3. ↑ Gomme, Andor; Maguire, Alison (2008). Design and Plan in the Country House: From Castle Donjons to Palladian Boxes. Yale University Press. p. 239. ISBN 0-300-12645-X.
  4. ↑ "Edward Meade". Histfam.familysearch.org. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Berden Hall, Berden". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  6. ↑ Grieve, Hilda (30 November 1994). The Sleepers and the Shadows: From market town to chartered borough, 1608-1888. Essex County Council. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-898529-00-2.
  7. ↑ Phillips, Sir Richard (1801). The Monthly Magazine. Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper. p. 375.
  8. 1 2 "The beauty of brick". The Daily Telegraph. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  9. 1 2 Pevsner, Nikolaus (1973). London. Penguin Books. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-14-071011-3.
  10. ↑ "Property history of Berden Hall". Zoopla. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Commons, Great Britain. Parliament. House of (1920). Papers by Command. H.M. Stationery Office.

External links

Coordinates: 51°56′41″N 0°08′01″E / 51.9447°N 0.1336°E / 51.9447; 0.1336

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