Kentwell Hall

Kentwell Hall is one of England's finest Tudor houses, developed in stages between about 1500 and 1578. The house is totally moated (one of the longest in the county) and is reached by two original bridges. To reach Kentwell you will drive 3/4 mile along an avenue of Lime trees planted in 1678. Kentwell presents an interesting mix of periods within what is still an essentially Tudor layout. The house is a classic example of an Elizabethan e-Plan manor house and was probably started in the reign of Henry VIII. Internally there has been some change but Kentwell still retains its grandeur including the Great Hall with its Minstrel's Gallery. With many areas to the house it offers the visitor a journey through time from the Great Kitchen with its huge open fireplace, stove and faggot ovens; the panelled bedchamber, with its ante-room and garderobe (which still drains into the Moat); and a fine timber-framed and brick-lined corridor. The Centre Block is very Gothick, the work of Thomas Hopper in the 1820s and is very striking. The East Wing has the main oak stair of about 1675, the New Library/Billiard Room created by Hopper with its Green Man detailing, and the Old Library/Drawing Room very much a classical room with many Hopper features, most noticeably the scagliola screen. Upstairs the most striking feature is the State Bedroom (created by Hopper for a visit by the then Duke of York) and its Boudoir; two rooms formed out of the original Tudor Great Chamber. Each of the other Bedrooms on view has its own Phillips created theme: Chinese, in one case, with a large screen commissioned from China hiding the elements of a bathroom; Jacobethan in the next and Victorian in another emphasizing its reputation as the haunted room. The Moat House, Kentwell's separate service building dates from about 1500. It houses the Dairy, Bakehouse & Brewhouse. Kentwell offers a visual array of many stunning and important works of art including 14th century pictures, tapestries and a magnificent stain glass window.