Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Map of Lost Country Houses in Suffolk
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Glossary of Architectural Terms
- Introduction: The Social and Economic Background
- Country House Losses in Suffolk – An Overview
- Acton Place Demolished 1825 and 1960
- Assington Hall Destroyed by Fire 1957
- Barking Hall Demolished 1926
- Barton Hall Destroyed by Fire 1914
- Boulge Hall Demolished 1955
- Bramford Hall Demolished 1956
- Branches Park Demolished 1957
- Bredfield House Demolished 1950
- Brome Hall Demolished c. 1958
- Campsea Ashe High House Demolished 1953
- Carlton Hall Destroyed by Fire 1941
- Cavenham Hall Demolished 1949
- Chediston Hall Demolished 1955
- Downham Hall Demolished 1925
- Drinkstone Park Demolished 1951
- Easton Park Demolished 1923
- Edwardstone Hall Demolished 1952
- Flixton Hall Demolished 1952/3
- Fornham Hall Demolished 1951
- Hardwick House Demolished 1926/7
- Henham Hall Demolished 1953/4
- Hobland Hall Damaged by Fire 1961, The Reinstated Ground Floor Demolished 2002
- Holton Hall, Holton St Peter Demolished 1957
- Hunston Hall Destroyed by Fire 1917
- Livermere Hall Demolished 1923
- The Manor House, Mildenhall Demolished 1934
- Moulton Paddocks Demolished 1950
- Oakley Park, Otherwise Hoxne Hall Demolished 1923
- Ousden Hall Demolished 1955
- The Red House, Ipswich Demolished 1937
- Redgrave Hall Demolished — The Georgian Building 1947, The Tudor Building 1970
- Rendlesham Hall Demolished 1949
- Rougham Hall Ruined by Bombing in 1940
- Rushbrooke Hall Destroyed by Fire During Demolition 1961
- Stoke Park Demolished c. 1930
- Sudbourne Hall Demolished 1951
- Tendring Hall Demolished 1954
- Thorington Hall Demolished 1949
- Thornham Hall Partly Demolished 1938, Partly Destroyed by Fire 1954
- Ufford Place Demolished 1956
- Appendix
- Notes to the Text
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
Assington Hall Destroyed by Fire 1957
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Map of Lost Country Houses in Suffolk
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Glossary of Architectural Terms
- Introduction: The Social and Economic Background
- Country House Losses in Suffolk – An Overview
- Acton Place Demolished 1825 and 1960
- Assington Hall Destroyed by Fire 1957
- Barking Hall Demolished 1926
- Barton Hall Destroyed by Fire 1914
- Boulge Hall Demolished 1955
- Bramford Hall Demolished 1956
- Branches Park Demolished 1957
- Bredfield House Demolished 1950
- Brome Hall Demolished c. 1958
- Campsea Ashe High House Demolished 1953
- Carlton Hall Destroyed by Fire 1941
- Cavenham Hall Demolished 1949
- Chediston Hall Demolished 1955
- Downham Hall Demolished 1925
- Drinkstone Park Demolished 1951
- Easton Park Demolished 1923
- Edwardstone Hall Demolished 1952
- Flixton Hall Demolished 1952/3
- Fornham Hall Demolished 1951
- Hardwick House Demolished 1926/7
- Henham Hall Demolished 1953/4
- Hobland Hall Damaged by Fire 1961, The Reinstated Ground Floor Demolished 2002
- Holton Hall, Holton St Peter Demolished 1957
- Hunston Hall Destroyed by Fire 1917
- Livermere Hall Demolished 1923
- The Manor House, Mildenhall Demolished 1934
- Moulton Paddocks Demolished 1950
- Oakley Park, Otherwise Hoxne Hall Demolished 1923
- Ousden Hall Demolished 1955
- The Red House, Ipswich Demolished 1937
- Redgrave Hall Demolished — The Georgian Building 1947, The Tudor Building 1970
- Rendlesham Hall Demolished 1949
- Rougham Hall Ruined by Bombing in 1940
- Rushbrooke Hall Destroyed by Fire During Demolition 1961
- Stoke Park Demolished c. 1930
- Sudbourne Hall Demolished 1951
- Tendring Hall Demolished 1954
- Thorington Hall Demolished 1949
- Thornham Hall Partly Demolished 1938, Partly Destroyed by Fire 1954
- Ufford Place Demolished 1956
- Appendix
- Notes to the Text
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
Summary
ASSINGTON HALL STOOD SOME FOUR MILES SOUTH-EAST OF SUDBURY, south of the road to Colchester, in an estate which by the twentieth century had extended to over 2,000 acres. A mainly Tudor house with later additions, it was one of the few lost country houses of Suffolk to meet its end in a fire that gutted most of the building.
From the early years of the fourteenth century to the middle of the sixteenth the manor of Assington was owned by the Corbet family by whom it was sold in 1555/6 to Robert Gurdon of Lavenham. Early in the next century his son, John, married the heiress of the Brampton family's estate at Letton in Norfolk. The Gurdons, who also acquired Grundisburgh Hall near Woodbridge to add to their portfolio of landed interests, were to remain at Assington until shortly before World War II.
Legend has it that Assington Hall was built on the site of an old monastery ‘in which priests prayed for the souls of those slain in the battle’ of Assandun. However, the location of that battle is the subject of speculation, also being attributed to Ashdon, near Saffron Walden and to Ashingdon between Chelmsford and Southend near the River Crouch. Originally the village of Assington was centred on the house and the nearby church, but it is believed that in the eighteenth century the village community was moved, probably to improve the Gurdon family's privacy. This clearance of the cottages and other properties near the house left it in a more isolated position in its own parkland.
IT IS THOUGHT that the first house on the site was of fourteenthcentury origin when the manor was acquired by the Corbets, but what survived until the fire was mainly a late Tudor timbered house built on the foundations of the earlier house and arranged on three sides of a quadrangle. The entrance front was recased in red brick by John Gurdon in the second decade of the nineteenth century, and it seems likely that the projecting side wings of the original house were pulled down at this time. Subsequent additions included a wing at the rear of the older building.
The house that survived into the twentieth century had five gables on the entrance front, the central one having a two-storeyed entrance porch which projected forward and had battlemented turrets.
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- Lost Country Houses of Suffolk , pp. 16 - 18Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010