Gainsborough Old Hall | |
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![]() Old Hall Tower | |
Coordinates | 53°24′02″N0°46′39″W / 53.400657°N 0.777578°W Coordinates: 53°24′02″N0°46′39″W / 53.400657°N 0.777578°W |
OS grid reference | SK8132090012 |
Built | 1471–1484 |
Architectural style(s) | Tudor |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Designated | 4 April 1964 |
Reference no. | 196291 |
Gainsborough Old Hall in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire is over five hundred years old and one of the best preserved medieval manor houses in England. [1]
The hall was built by Sir Thomas Burgh in 1460. The Burghs were rich, flamboyant and powerful. Gainsborough Old Hall was not only their home, but also a demonstration of their wealth and importance. Burgh was a benefactor to Newark Church and also the founder of the Chantry and Alms House at Gainsborough. In 1470, the manor was attacked by Sir Robert Welles over a clash about lands, status, and honour, but it was not severely damaged. In 1484 Thomas entertained King Richard III in his hall. [2] Henry VII intended to raise Thomas to the pre-eminence of a Barony, but no second writ was issued, nor was a patent.
In 1510, Thomas Burgh's son, Edward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh, was incarcerated at the Old Hall after being declared a lunatic, never having attended the House of Lords. He died in 1528, leaving his eldest son Sir Thomas as head of the family. He was regarded as 1st Baron Burgh, de jure 3rd. In 1529, Thomas' son and heir, Edward, married Catherine Parr, later Queen consort to King Henry VIII. The couple stayed at Gainsborough Old Hall until 1530, when they were granted their own manor in Kirton-in-Lindsey. [3]
King Henry VIII visited Gainsborough twice: once in 1509, and again in 1541 with his fifth wife Queen Catherine Howard. The Queen was accused of indiscretions both at Gainsborough and Lincoln, and she was later executed. Catherine Parr, by this time widowed twice (Edward Burgh having died in 1533), became Henry's sixth wife. [4]
When Thomas, the fifth Lord Burgh, died without an heir, the Hall was sold in 1596 to William Hickman, a merchant from London, who made many improvements, especially to the east wing. William and his mother Rose supported John Smyth and the Separatist movement, and allowed them to meet and worship at the hall from 1603 until they sailed to the low countries to find religious freedom and establish the Baptist movement. The Hickman family continued to play a prominent role in the development of Gainsborough and many became local members of Parliament. Sir Neville Hickman invited John Wesley to preach in the Great Hall several times in 1759, and in 1761 and 1764. [4] [5] [1]
In 1720 a new house was built at Thonock on the edge of the town and the Old Hall became unoccupied. It remained in the family and was used for a variety of purposes.
Architecturally the Old Hall has changed very little over the years. It is principally a timber framed building, giving a characteristic 'striped' or 'black and white' appearance. On the north east corner is a brick tower. A splendid view of the town is available after a fifty-nine step climb to the top.
Today, the Hall with its elaborate timber roof survives, with a kitchen which is possibly the most complete medieval kitchen in England. The kitchen still contains many original features, including two open fireplaces, each large enough to roast an ox, and two bread ovens served by a third chimney. [4]
The tower of the Old Hall is supposedly haunted by the Grey Lady, thought to be the daughter of the Lord of the Manor who fell in love with a poor soldier and planned to elope with him. Her father discovered the plan and locked her away in the tower where she died from a broken heart. According to local legend the girl's spirit still wanders the tower, endlessly waiting for her lover to arrive. [6]
The house was looked after from 1949 by a volunteer group, The Friends of the Old Hall (FOHA), who saved the building and first opened it to the public. Sir Edmund Bacon gave it to the nation in 1970. [7] The house is now owned by English Heritage and is open to the public as a museum. It is listed as Grade I for Heritage Protection. [5] The Friends organisation still exists, and provides volunteer guides and other expertise. [8]
Catherine Parr was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort of the House of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen. She was the first woman to publish an original work under her own name in English in England.
Sudeley Castle is a Grade I listed castle in the parish of Sudeley, in the Cotswolds, near to the medieval market town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The castle has 10 notable gardens covering some 15 acres within a 1,200-acre estate nestled within the Cotswold hills.
Gainsborough is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town population was 20,842 at the 2011 census, and estimated at 23,243 in 2019. It lies on the east bank of the River Trent, 18 miles (29 km) north-west of Lincoln, 16 miles (26 km) south-west of Scunthorpe, 20 miles south-east of Doncaster and 39 miles (63 km) east of Sheffield. It is England's furthest inland port at over 55 miles (89 km) from the North Sea.
Edward Fiennes, or Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln KG was an English landowner, peer, and Lord High Admiral. He rendered valuable service to four of the Tudor monarchs.
Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, suo jure12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, was an English noblewoman living at the courts of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I. She was the fourth wife of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who acted as her legal guardian during his third marriage to Henry VIII's sister Mary. Her second husband was Richard Bertie, a member of her household. Following Charles Brandon's death in 1545, it was rumoured that King Henry had considered marrying Katherine as his seventh wife, while he was still married to his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, who was Katherine's close friend.
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Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh also spelt Borough, KG, 1st Baron Borough of Gainsborough, also de jure 5th Baron Strabolgi and 7th Baron Cobham of Sterborough, was an English peer. In 1513 he was knighted on Flodden Field, where he was one of the King's Spears, a bodyguard of King Henry VIII. He later became Lord Chamberlain to Anne Boleyn. He was also one of the twenty-six Peers summoned to the trial of Anne Boleyn in May 1536.
Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal in Westmorland, England, was a courtier and is best known as the father of Queen Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII.
Maud Green, Lady Parr was an English courtier. She was the mother of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII of England. She was a close friend and lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. She was also co-heiress to her father, Sir Thomas Green of Green's Norton in Northamptonshire along with her sister, Anne, Lady Vaux.
Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Baroness Herbert of Cardiff was lady-in-waiting to each of Henry VIII of England's six wives. She was the younger sister of his sixth wife, Catherine Parr.
Edward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh of Gainsboroughde jure 4th Baron Strabolgi, was an English peer.
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Gunby Hall is a country house in Gunby, near Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, England, reached by a half mile long private drive. The Estate comprises the 42-room Gunby Hall, listed Grade I, a clocktower, listed Grade II* and a carriage house and stable block which are listed Grade II. In 1944 the trustees of the Gunby Hall Estate, Lady Montgomery-Massingberd, Major Norman Leith-Hay-Clarke and Field Marshal Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd, gave the house to the National Trust together with its contents and some 1,500 acres of land.
Elizabeth FitzHugh was an English noblewoman. She is best known for being the grandmother of Katherine Parr, sixth queen consort to Henry VIII, and her siblings Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton.
Sir Thomas Burgh (; BURRA, KG was an English gentleman.
Sir Edward Burgh was the eldest son and heir to Sir Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh and his wife Agnes Tyrwhit. He is known for being the first husband of Catherine Parr, later queen of England. 18th-century historians have mistaken him for his grandfather, the elderly, Edward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh.
Sir John Marmion, Baron Marmion of Winteringham was an Anglo-Norman baron who represented Lincolnshire in Parliament and fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Sir Willoughby Hickman, 3rd Baronet (1659–1720) of Gainsborough Old Hall, Lincolnshire was a British landowner and politician who sat in the English House of Commons between 1685 and 1706 and in the British House of Commons from 1713 to 1720.
Lindley P. (ed), (1991), Gainsborough Old Hall, Occasional Papers in Lincoln Archaeology and History, No.8. Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, ISBN 0904680967