CHEDISTON HALL WAS LOCATED ON HIGH GROUND TO THE NORTH OF THE ROAD FROMTHE VILLAGE OF CHEDISTONTO HALESWORTH. In the middle of the nineteenth century its estate extended to over 2,000 acres.

The house was originally a Tudor house, probably built by the Norton family, who had acquired Chediston in the late sixteenth century. An archaeological survey has not revealed any evidence of medieval remains on the site, suggesting that it was a new house on a fresh site. In the following century it was owned by Sir John Pettus and then by the fleetwood family, from whom it was bought in 1722 by Walter Plumer. Plumer is said to have ‘lately rebuilt the Hall in a beautiful Manner and made it his seat’, but it is not known what work he undertook. His family remained the owners until 1833 when the estate was purchased by George Parkyns. In 1819 the house was described as ‘now a farmhouse’.

George Parkyns bought Chediston from Robert Plumer Ward who had inherited it from his wife, the widow of the last Plumer in the male line. It is recounted that Plumer Ward had mortgaged the property to a chartered company with limited powers to hold land, and these having been exceeded the estate was forfeited to the Crown. The Crown regranted the property and the sale to Parkyns was completed. However, after Parkyns’ death it was discovered that his title was defective as he was the son of his father's second marriage in France, where he was born. Under English law as it then was he was an alien and, as such, incapable of holding land in England. In 1846 the Crown regranted the property to Parkyns’ daughter, Madame Marie Claire Leguen de Lacroix. It then descended through her family.

GEORGE PARKYNS rebuilt the house, commissioning Edward Blore to prepare the designs, but the work actually executed was at variance with his plans. The basic rebuilding was in ‘Jacobean’ style, the footprint of the house remaining a traditional East Anglian rectangular U. The entrance was through a projecting porch, which rose to the full height of the building.