Henham Hall
Has been described as a Possible Fortified Manor House
There are masonry footings remains
| Name | Henham Hall |
| Alternative Names | |
| Historic Country | Suffolk |
| Modern Authority | Suffolk |
| 1974 Authority | Suffolk |
| Civil Parish | Wangford with Henham |
Large courtyard-plan house built c. 1520's-1530's by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk on his ancestral estate (feudal overlordship granted to him 1513 - formerly held by the de la Poles, Dukes of Suffolk - but the Brandon family had been mesne lords in the 15th century). Sold to the Crown in 1538 and granted 1545 to Sir Anthony Rous, whose descendents still own the estate (Copinger: MacCulloch: Gunn and Lindley).
House described 1538 as "a faier newe howse well buylded with tymber and fayer lyghtys and at the cumming in to the Court a faier yate howe of breake newly buylded with iiii turrettes" (MacCullcoh). House is shown, with elevations, on R. Nicholson's map of Henham 1699. There is also a drawing of the front elevation - a copy circa 1820 of a drawing by Joshua Kirby circa 1750 (reproduced in MacCulloch and Gunn and Lindley); Suckling has a Victorian elaboration of it between pages 354 & 355). The front elevation with a 3-storey gatehouse and corner towers was of brick, the remainder of the house seems to have been of timber. House was burnt down in a fire 8 May 1773 and demolished (Suckling). Site lies to the south of the walled garden, in the garden of the later house. (Suffolk HER)
Site investigated by TimeTeam in 2012. Foundations of Tudor manor identified on geophysics and partly uncovered. Medieval hall timber hall also identified. A buried ditch surrounding the site was identified as a moat by landscape archaeologist Steward Ainsworth (although the suggestion seems to have also been made earlier (Suffolk HER HAM 017). Had a deer park in C16 (Suffolk HER HAM 019) which was probably of earlier origins. A stated by Francis Prior many medieval houses in this area were moated but few were of the status to have attached deer parks. The Tudor house had crenellated corner turrets, at least on the front face
The moated medieval house was certainly of the form and status of many house granted a license to crenellate, although there is no record of this house having such a licence. The Tudor house had that mix of renaissance and martial decorative form characteristic of such high status houses. TimeTeam found pottery dating from C11 through to current. Henham has been suggested as the site of a DMV (PastScape record 392071).
Not scheduled
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | TM450773 |
| Latitude | 52.338809967041 |
| Longitude | 1.60243999958038 |
| Eastings | 645000 |
| Northings | 277300 |
