HUNSTANTON: FROM MANOR TO TOWN

The Lords of Hunstanton long held the title of Lord High Admiral of the Wash, a distinction that traditionally granted rights over the shoreline and adjoining waters of The Wash—symbolically described as extending as far as a spear might be thrown. In modern terms, this historic office has included responsibility for matters such as stranded whales along the Estate’s coastline, as noted in Keepers of the Kingdom: The Ancient Offices of Britain.

From at least the late 15th century, Hunstanton developed into a distinctive community sustained under manorial lordship which invariably was unusual. By 1496, Sir Roger le Strange (c.1446–1506), Esquire of the Body to Henry VII, had consolidated neighbouring holdings, uniting the Hunstanton lands under an unique single ownership, which was quite unusual.

Four centuries later, governance began to shift. The Local Government Act of 1894 transferred increasing authority from manorial lords to elected local councils. By the mid-20th century, the expansion of the welfare state further altered the traditional responsibilities once borne by landed estates.

During the 19th century, Henry Styleman le Strange (1815–1862), developer of the Victorian seaside town, encountered early signs of economic change. Though his estate produced high-quality wheat and corn, competition from cheaper imported produce began to undermine the self-contained rural economy on which communities like Hunstanton had long depended.

In the decades following the Second World War, heavy taxation and changing economic realities placed immense pressure on country houses across Britain. Like many ancestral homes, Hunstanton Hall was sold post-war in 1949. The decision fell to Bernard le Strange (1900–1958), the 34th heir of Hunstanton and grandson of Henry Styleman le Strange.

He bravely sold the Hall and its contents to “save the rest of the Estate” -some residential plots of which he had sold prior. Among the dispersals was the Hall’s organ, later traced to Historic St Luke’s Church in America.

Bernard, the 25th great-grandson of Ralph of Hunstanton, had inherited in 1933 after the earlier death of his brother Charles. Having lost both parents at nineteen and served in both World Wars, he assumed responsibility in difficult times. He married in 1943 at the age of forty-three but had no children; following the sale and the breakdown of his marriage to his wife Glwadys, Marchioness of Townshend of Raynham Hall, he retired to Jersey, while she settled in London.

Though the ancestral home was lost, Bernard’s decision preserved the wider estate, which remains in family hands today. At the time, acquisition by the National Trust was not a realistic option, given the number of properties already under its care.

During the later 20th century, the family retained a foothold in the West Wing of the Hall. The last Miss le Strange, a great-granddaughter of Henry Styleman le Strange, resided in part of the West Wing between the early 1960s - abt 1988, until structural deterioration—particularly to the lead roof—made continued occupation impractical.

Today, while no longer resident at the Hall itself, members of the le Strange family remain actively involved in the life of the town, serving on local council committees and contributing to the governance and development of modern Hunstanton.