Hunstanton Hall

HUNSTANTON HALL

LISTED GRADE I BUILDING

Hunstanton Hall is an historic country house of exceptional significance. 

This ancestral home of the le Strange family, has undergone centuries of building phases. Their landowning progenitor is Ralph Herluin of 1086, and in 1949, after the Second World War, the auction of The Hall (and contents) was handled by Cruso & Wilkin, under instruction of Bernard le Strange (b.1900). It has seen many successive generations come and go, and two fires, one in 1853 which destroyed the Elizabethan Wing, calling upon the village to help control the fire.

The Hall is a Grade I listed building, with some outer buildings listed as Grade II. Its origins go back to the medieval period. There is evidence of a moated manor house built between 1333 and 1366. Parts of this early building still survive, along with earthworks showing where the moat once stood. This marked the creation of a large, fortified home on the site.

In the 15th century, Sir Roger le Strange (c.1446–1506) made additions about 1486-1491. He served Henry VII (as Esq. to the Body), and was one of those men who had access to the private Royal apartments.  He received £280 annual payments from his prospective Father in Law, Sir Henry Heydon as a marriage dowry, over the course of 4 years, before his marriage to Amy took place in 1491. This money aided the expansion of Hunstanton Hall.  His Knights Vows were taken at the lavish Royal wedding of Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon at St Paul's Cathedral on 14 November 1501, followed by a week of royal celebrations and tournaments. Sir Roger was laid to rest in his Tomb inside nearby St. Mary’s Church. 

There are visibly older sections dating back to the 14th century as mentioned, and when Hamon le Strange (1289–1317), from Knockin Castle succeeded to The Hall, his new Home, he found The Church of St. Mary’s, next door to be in a dilapidated state requiring renovations. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to complete his work.

Yet documentary evidence suggests that occupation of the residential site may be earlier still. An original family document, dated by the historian Robert Eyton to circa 1275, remained preserved on the premises for centuries in the Muniment Room. It was customary for such deeds to remain at the property to which they related, and vellum documents—remarkably durable—can survive for many hundreds of years when properly stored. This evidence implies that a substantial residence with administrative rooms was likely established on the site well before the 14th century. 

The  15th century gatehouse still stands today and is an important historic feature. The house was enlarged again in 1578 by Sir Nicholas le Strange (1562–1591), whose musical Son, Sir Hamon, hastily galloped to Scotland to notify King James VI of his accession to the English throne, following the death of Queen Elizabeth.

In 1622, this son, Sir Hamon extended The Hall again by building the ornamental Inigo Jones gateway which some attribute to Thomas Thorpe and/or William Edge.

While the gatehouse dates from 1487, the principal wings were constructed circa 1625–1640.

In the 19th century, an extension was added by Henry Styleman le Strange in 1835, more building work was carried out under his son, Hamon le Strange in 1873 and 1879. This work was undertaken by family relative, Frederick Preedy who built at the north-west where stands a three-storey High Victorian domestic range. Behind this lies a two-storey range believed to incorporate fabric from the earliest phase of the house.

His work followed the serious fire in 1853 was caused by their maid, Mary, while the Family were away in Brussels. She was a trusted long term maid and whilst undertaking the smoking - fumigation of mattresses to clean them, the major damage was caused, bringing down the entire Elisabethan Wing.This left, within the courtyard, the central original main entrance to the Hall, now an isolated Grade I listed porch of 1618. In that courtyard, it was said that “it was the feat of only a clever whip that could drive a four-in-hand (horsecart) in and round that limited space in the quadrangle.” The archway porch was rose-covered in the Victorian era. Likewise, the near kitchen gardens were decorated in Henry Styleman le Strange’s time, with red and white rose shrubs, depicting the Family colours in Arms - inspired by the colours of the Hunstanton Cliffs.

During the 2nd World War, another fire caused further damage from a cigarette stub of soldiers stationed in the West Wing. Extensive restoration works to this were undertaken in 1988. Even with these setbacks, large parts of Hunstanton Hall still stand today, showing over 600 years of building, rebuilding, and change. The last Family member to live in the main part of the Hall was Bernard le Strange who inspired PG. Wodehouse’s character Bertie Wooster. Bernard lived out his final decade in Jersey. Although he changed residence, the Hall would never have been far from his mind. He appointed staff to ensure the continued maintenance of the existing Family Estate, thereby establishing a new administrative office in a small lane tucked away off Church Road, opposite the duck pond next to St. Mary’s Church.

GRADE I LISTED

MAIN RESIDENCE

Hunstanton Hall main building is a Grade I listed country residence constructed of chequer-work clunch and carstone, with knapped flint and brick, arranged around three sides of a courtyard.

THE GATEWAY

The main approach is through the 17th-century arched and ornamented gateway attributed to Thomas Thorpe, bounded by it’s Grade I listed embattled carstone wall joined with a 17th-century two-storey stable block of carstone.

ISOLATED PORCH

Beyond the gatehouse lies a second courtyard. At its centre stands the Grade I listed porch of a former 16th-century range which has remained freestanding since the fire of 1853. Built of stone, chequer-work stone, and flint, the porch exemplifies the Jacobean Mannerist style.

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GRADE II LISTED

  1. To the north of the Hall stands a group of associated Grade II listed buildings as follows:

  2. 17th-century barn of rubble carstone, brick, and clunch

  3. Square Stable Court featuring a central brick arch and a clock cupola designed by Frederick Pready in 1873

  4. Square carstone and tile game larder

  5. Stable Court Cottage

OTHER NOTES:

The south wing includes an orangery. Extending from the north wing—running north-west, then west along the moat, and finally south-east—is a carstone garden wall dated 1622 along its western section.

THE HALL IN CONTEXT

After nine centuries under the unique stewardship of a single family, it was perhaps inevitable that what began as an independently governed village under one Lord would gradually evolve into a modern township.

Between 1086 and 1949, the rhythm of estate life continued largely uninterrupted even when the Lord was away. By the late 19th century, however, governance began to shift. The Local Government Act of 1894 transferred increasing authority to elected councils, while 20th-century taxation—particularly under the Lloyd George reforms—placed heavy financial burdens on large landowners.

After hundreds of years of continuous occupation of the same Family, Hunstanton Hall was sold in 1949 by Bernard le Strange, the 33rd heir and 25th great-grandson of Ralph of Hunstanton. The sale, was driven largely by taxation pressures threatening the survival of the wider estate. Bernard, who had served in both World Wars and married later in life, sought to preserve what he could of the family’s land holdings.

Following the sale, Bernard retired to Jersey, while his wife, Glwadys, Marchioness of Townshend, settled in London. Though the ancestral home passed from the family, the le Stranges retained ownership of much of the surrounding estate.

In the wider scope of the Estate, development of Hunstanton accelerated. A few years prior to the sale in 1937, and again in 1949, residential plots were sold, forming what became the Cliff Estate, with roads named after family members—Bernard Crescent, Austin Street, Astley and Hastings Crescent, Boston Square, and others. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the family managed to maintain a foothold in the West Wing of the Hall, until mounting repair costs—particularly to the lead roof—made retention impractical.

Though the Hall itself was lost, the Estate endures. The sale marked not an end, but a transformation—another chapter in a history shaped by adaptation, continuity, and an enduring sense of stewardship.

  • The Hall kitchen gardens with red and white roses which they grew reminiscent of the red and white cliffs and coat of arms colours.

  • A photo by kind permission of Julia K. Hill illustrates the unique sign post with the le Strange coat of arms and Lord High Admiral of the Wash with spear.