Melford Hall

Heritage listing

Details C16 moated gardens and fishponds within the grounds of a moated hall, with a mid C16 summerhouse and crinkle-crankle wall built in 1793, set in the remains of a medieval deer park extended in 1613. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT From the reign of Edward the Confessor (1005-66) until the Reformation, the manor of Melford belonged to the Benedictine abbey of Bury St Edmunds. The hall and manor were reserved for the abbots alone. In 1547 following the Dissolution, William Cordell was granted the hall and manor by Henry VIII. Cordell, an influential lawyer who became Master of the Rolls, built a new hall in 1559 on the site of the old one and laid out elaborate formal gardens, including the octagonal summerhouse which still survives. Here he entertained Elizabeth I in 1578. Dying without an heir the manor passed to Sir William's sister Jane Arlington who was succeeded by her daughter and subsequently by her grandson Sir Thomas, Viscount Savage, in c 1612. The Hall was ransacked in 1642 and the deer removed from the park (guidebook 1998). The estate had been mortgaged to Sir John Cordell, a relative of the original builder, and thus in 1649 Melford returned to the Cordell family. Sir John restocked and planted the park and the property stayed with the family until purchased by Sir Harry Parker, sixth Baronet, in 1786. In the early years of the C19 the Hall was remodelled. During the Second World War the Hall was under military occupation and following a serious fire was restored by Sir William Hyde Parker, eleventh Baronet. Following his death, the Hall, gardens and 54ha of park were transferred to the National Trust in 1960. Sir Richard Hyde Parker, twelfth Baronet currently (1998) administers the site on behalf of the Trust. DESCRIPTION LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM,

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.