Smallbridge Hall is a Grade II* listed English country house in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk, near Colchester, England. The house is partially surrounded by a moat and stands on the bank of the River Stour. The present building is one wing of a large two-storey red-brick Elizabethan mansion. It was heavily restored once c.1874 and again in 1932. [1]
The Waldegrave family had been the owners of the Smallbridge hall and the Wormingford estate which is on the other bank of the River Stour from at least the 14th century. The Smallbridge hall had come into their possession when Sir Richard Waldegrave married Joan, the widow of Sir Robert de Bures. Around 1555, Sir William Waldegrave rebuilt the house, and received Queen Elizabeth there in 1561. The property remained with the Waldegrave family until c.1700 when it was sold to pay debts. The hall has been owned by many other families after that. It was once rebuilt c.1893 and further restored by Lady Phylis Macrae, daughter of the Marchioness of Bristol, in 1932.
Thai Formula One driver Alex Albon lived in Smallbridge Hall during his childhood before moving out in 2012.
East Stour is a village and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Dorset in southern England. It lies within the Dorset administrative district, about two miles south of the town of Gillingham. The village is 1⁄2 mile from the east bank of the River Stour in the Blackmore Vale and two miles west of the broadly conical local landmark Duncliffe Hill. Above the west bank of the river, about one mile away, is the village of West Stour. The A30 London to Penzance road passes through the village. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 573.
The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 47 miles (76 km) long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury, Bures, Nayland, Stratford St Mary, Dedham and flows through the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It becomes tidal just before Manningtree in Essex and joins the North Sea at Harwich.
Wye is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wye with Hinxhill, in the Ashford district, in Kent, England, 5 miles (8.0 km) from Ashford and 12 miles (19 km) from Canterbury. It is the main settlement in the parish of Wye with Hinxhill. Hop varieties including Wye Challenger were bred at Wye College and named for the village.
Stratford St. Mary is a village in Suffolk, England in the heart of 'Constable Country'. John Constable painted a number of paintings in and around Stratford.
Waldegrave is the name of an English family, said to derive from Walgrave in Northamptonshire, who long held the manor of Smallbridge in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk.
Bures Hamlet is a civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 749.
Bures St Mary is a civil parish in the Babergh district of the English county of Suffolk. In 2005 it had a population of 940, reducing to 918 at the 2011 Census. The parish covers the eastern part of the village of Bures, the western part being in the Bures Hamlet parish in Essex divided by the River Stour.
Dedham Vale is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Essex-Suffolk border in east England. It comprises the area around the River Stour between Manningtree and Smallbridge Farm, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Bures, including the village of Dedham in Essex.
Sir Clement Higham, or Heigham, of Barrow, Suffolk, was an English lawyer and politician, a Speaker of the House of Commons in 1554, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1558–1559. A loyal Roman Catholic, he held various offices and commissions under Queen Mary, and was knighted in 1555 by King Philip, but withdrew from politics after the succession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558.
Sir Richard Waldegrave was an English knight and Member of Parliament, who served as Speaker of the House of Commons from November 1381 to February 1382.
Bures is a village in eastern England that straddles the Essex/Suffolk border, made up of two civil parishes: Bures Hamlet in Essex and Bures St. Mary in Suffolk.
Kelvedon Hatch is a village in civil parish of Kelvedon Hatch, in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, England. It is situated just north of Pilgrims Hatch, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north of Brentwood and is surrounded by Metropolitan Green Belt. In 2019 the built up area had an estimated population of 2,434. The parish had a population of 2,563 in 2001, reducing to 2,541 at the 2011 Census and climbed back up to 2,631 in 2021.
Wormingford is a village and civil parish in Essex, England.
Olantigh is an English house 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Wye in the civil parish of Wye with Hinxhill.
Belair Park is a park located in the West Dulwich part of the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England. The park grounds once belonged to Belair House, a country villa built in Adam style that is now a Grade II listed building. There are also two other Grade II listed structures within the park: the lodge and entrance gate, and an old stable building.
Melford Hall is a stately home in the village of Long Melford, Suffolk, England. Since 1786 it has been the seat of the Parker Baronets and is still lived in by the Hyde Parker family. Since 1960 it has been owned by the National Trust.
Franks Hall in Horton Kirby, Kent, is a large Elizabethan country house, completed in 1591. The Grade I listed building remains a private house.
Alice Bures, also known by her married name of Alice Brian and sometimes as Alice de Bryene, was an English landowner whose estates were centred on Suffolk. Widowed about age 26, she spent the next 49 years of her life bringing up her two daughters, looking after her household, and running her estates. Some letters she received and some of her household accounts have been published, giving a valuable insight into the life of a well-off gentlewoman in the English countryside at that time.
Sir John Spring, of Lavenham, Buxhall, Hitcham, and Cockfield, Suffolk, was an English merchant and politician.
Sir William Waldegrave was an English soldier and Member of Parliament.