England · Demolished
Costessey Hall
Costessey Hall was a large Gothic revival manor house in Costessey, Norfolk, rebuilt by John Chessell Buckler for Lord Stafford Jerningham between 1826 and 1836. The house was left empty after 1913, requisitioned in World War I and demolished in 1925; only the small belfry block survives in the park.
Its prime
1836
Today
Demolished
As it stood in 1836
What Costessey Hall looked like in its prime.
A sprawling Gothic-revival manor in pale ashlar, dominated by a tall square crenellated tower with a flagpole and a round stair turret; the main block displays steep gabled roofs, paired projecting oriel bays with mullioned windows and balustraded bases, and numerous high, ornate chimney stacks. A long service range with an arcaded veranda runs to one side. The composition sits in parkland with mature specimen trees and a broad lawn to the south.
Its story
The story of Costessey Hall.
From Alan Rufus to Sir Henry Jerningham, 1086–1555
The hall first enters the record around 1086, as Costessey Manor, when William the Conqueror gave it to Alan Rufus, Earl of Richmond. It may afterwards have been granted to Anne of Cleves by her husband Henry VIII. In 1555 Mary I awarded it to Sir Henry Jerningham for the support he had given her during the contested accession of Lady Jane Grey; it then had twenty-two sub-manors in Norfolk, along with manors in Hereford and Gloucestershire.
The Tudor House and Buckler's Gothic Castle, 1555–1836
Jerningham built a new manor house on the south side of the River Tud, which runs through Costessey; the original manor house stayed on the north side of the water and is still standing in Costessey Park. From 1826 to 1836 John Chessell Buckler raised a Gothic castle for Lord Stafford Jerningham, several times larger than the original Tudor hall.
Sale, Requisition and Demolition, 1913–1925
In 1913 the contents of the house were sold and the hall was left empty. At the start of the First World War the War Office commandeered it. The decision to pull it down was taken in 1919 and the house was demolished in 1925, leaving the belfry block by the eighteenth fairway of the Costessey Park golf course as all that remains of it.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1836.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Costessey Hall, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Costessey Hall.
The families that held Costessey Hall for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Jerningham
Lord Stafford Jerningham had the hall rebuilt as a vast Gothic castle, 1826–1836; its contents were sold in 1913.
Nearby
Landmarks within reach of Costessey Hall.
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