Sudbury Hall is a country house in Sudbury, Derbyshire, England. One of the country's finest Restoration mansions, it has Grade I listed building status,
The National Trust Museum of Childhood is housed in the 19th-century servants' wing of Sudbury Hall.
History
In 1086, following the Norman Conquest, the manor of Sudbury was listed in the Domesday Book.
The Vernon family came to Sudbury as a result of the 16th-century marriage of the Sudbury heiress Ellen Montgomery to Sir John Vernon (d.1545), a son of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon Hall in Derbyshire.
The present house at Sudbury was built shortly after the restoration of King Charles II, between 1660 and 1680 by George Vernon, grandfather of George Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron Vernon. By the late 19th century, the extent of the Sudbury Estate stretched from Cubley down to Marchington in Staffordshire. The revised visitor experience has been criticised by the Vernon Family; Joanna FitzAlan Howard, daughter of the 10th Baron Vernon accused the National Trust of "dumbing down" by turning her ancestral home into "a child-centred theme park". The National Trust have stated that the new experience offers "new ways for children to learn about the history of Sudbury Hall" and that the speech bubbles inform children about "hidden symbolism in historic portraits". The changes have also been criticised by the pressure group Restore Trust for discouraging adult visitors unaccompanied by children, and for removing the house contents to make way for "fun active games and activities". In May 2023 the Children’s Country House at Sudbury was awarded Permanent Exhibition of the Year at the Museum and Heritage Awards 2023. Judges expressed the view that the redesign of Sudbury Hall offered a "participatory and imaginative new bold approach to interpreting historic houses and heritage".
Architecture
Sudbury Hall dates from the Restoration era, but George Vernon's building is based on a Jacobean design, with its ornate Great Staircase and Long Gallery. Notably, the state rooms are located on the west side of the building and the servants' quarters on the east side, a traditional layout preferred by Tudor architects.
The house is a two-storey red brick building fronted with a Baroque main entrance porch, with two levels of paired columns, each surmounted with a pediment. The carvings above the porch were sculpted by William Wilson. Other portraits in the collection include:
- Catherine Vernon (1663-1710), one of George Vernon's wives, by John Riley (oil on canvas, 1681);
- Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, Archbishop of York, by Sir Thomas Lawrence (oil on canvas, 1823);
- Two mistresses of King Charles II: Nell Gwyn by Sir Peter Lely (oil on canvas c.1675); and Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller (oil on canvas 1670)
- A pair of portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from the studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds (oil on canvas, 1779).
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px" caption="Art treasures of Sudbury Hall">
At Sudbury Hall 2023 026.jpg|Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, Archbishop of York, by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1823)
File:Sudbury Hall 00 00 57 483000.jpeg|The Hon. Anne Howard, Lady Yonge (d.1775) by John Vanderbank (1737); overmantel by Grinling Gibbons
File:Sudbury Hall 00 00 54 007000.jpeg|Overmantel by Grinling Gibbons (detail)
File:Peter Lely (1618-1680) (after) - Eleanor 'Nell' Gwyn (Gwynne) (1651–1687) - 653191 - National Trust.jpg|Nell Gwyn by Peter Lely (c.1675)
File:Louise Renee Portrait with speech bubble.jpg|Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, attr. Sir Godfrey Kneller (1670) with National Trust speech bubble
File:Frances Margaret Lawrance, Lady Vernon (d 1940).jpg|Frances Margaret Lawrance, Lady Vernon by Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1883)
File:Sudbury Hall 00 01 11 608000.jpeg|Henry Vernon by John Riley, with National Trust speech bubble
</gallery>
Filming location
The house was used for the internal Pemberley scenes in the BBC dramatisation (1995) of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The house's centrally-positioned domed cap-house featured in the title shot of Yorkshire Television's children's programme The Book Tower.
See also
- Catherine Pegge
- Deercote, Sudbury Park
- George John Venables-Vernon, 5th Baron Vernon
- Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire
- Listed buildings in Sudbury, Derbyshire