Sutton House, London

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Sutton House
Sutton House in Hackney Exterior.jpg
Sutton House, the oldest house in Hackney
Hackney London UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within London Borough of Hackney
Former namesBryck Place
General information
Type Manor house
Architectural style Tudor
LocationHomerton High Street
London, E9
United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°32′54″N0°3′1″W / 51.54833°N 0.05028°W / 51.54833; -0.05028
Completed1535;489 years ago (1535)
Renovated1993
ClientSir Ralph Sadler
Owner National Trust
Technical details
Material Red brick
Website
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-house
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated23 April 1951
Reference no.1226810

Sutton House is a Grade II* listed Tudor manor house in Homerton High Street, in Hackney and is in London Borough of Hackney, London, England. It is owned by the National Trust.

Contents

History

Originally known as Bryck Place, Sutton House [lower-alpha 1] was built in 1535 by Sir Ralph Sadler, Principal Secretary of State to Henry VIII, [3] and is the oldest residential building in Hackney. It is a rare example of a red brick building from the Tudor period, beginning as a three-storey H-plan structure. [4] Sadler then sold the house and surrounding estate to John Machell, a cloth merchant, in 1550, having built a new, grander house in Hertfordshire. [5]

Sutton House became home to a succession of merchants, sea captains, Huguenot silk-weavers, Victorian schoolmistresses and Edwardian clergy. The frontage was modified in the Georgian period, but the core remains an essentially Tudor building. Oak panelled rooms, including a rare 'linen fold' room, Tudor windows and carved fireplaces survive intact, and an exhibition tells the history of the house and its former occupants.[ citation needed ]

The Great Chamber Great Chamber at Sutton House.JPG
The Great Chamber

At the turn of the 18th century, Hackney was renowned for its many schools, and Sutton House contained a boys' school, with headmaster Dr Burnet, which was attended in 1818 by the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The building next became Milford House girls' school. [6]

Sutton House was bought by the National Trust in the 1930s with the proceeds of a bequest. During World War II it was used as a centre for Fire Wardens, who kept watch from the roof. From the 1960s it was rented by the ASTMS Union, led by its charismatic general secretary Clive Jenkins. When the union left in the early 1980s, the house fell into disrepair. [7]

The house is the oldest surviving domestic building in Hackney. It is the second oldest in East London, Bromley Hall, a much modified house of the Tudor period, which survives next to the Blackwall Tunnel approach road, being slightly older; the latter is not open to the public.[ citation needed ]

Rescue

In the mid-1980s the building was squatted and used as a music venue and social centre, known as the Blue House (a decorated wall from this time is preserved within the current museum). [8] After the squatters were evicted the building's condition continued to decline. The Sutton House Society, originally known as the Save Sutton House Campaign, which was formed in March 1987, then began a campaign to rescue the building and open it to the public. Renovations were completed in 1991. [9] The building remains in use as a museum, as well as housing a café, an art gallery and a book and gift shop. [10] There is an active schools education programme at the house, together with other community programmes. Sutton House was short-listed for the 2004 Gulbenkian Prize. It is registered for the conduct of marriages. [11]

The restoration was completed in 1993 and the house fully opened in 1994. [12] The weekend of 23 and 24 June 2007 represented the 20th anniversary of the campaign to save the house, and the 500th anniversary of the birth of its commissioner, Ralph Sadler.[ citation needed ]

Transport

Tudor kitchen Kitchen at Sutton House.JPG
Tudor kitchen

The closest railway stations are Hackney Central station and Homerton station on the North London Line (part of the London Overground network). Many buses also stop in this area. The pedestrian route from Hackney Central passes St Augustine's Tower, a remnant of Hackney's Tudor Parish church.[ citation needed ]

Notes

  1. The name is a misattribution to Thomas Sutton, founder of Charterhouse School, who was another notable Hackney resident, in the adjacent Tan House. [1] This was demolished in 1806 to allow for the extension of Sutton Place, a terrace of 16 Georgian Houses (Grade II listed). [2]

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Sutton House may refer to:

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References

Morris Dance performance in the courtyard of Sutton House SuttonHouseLevitation.JPG
Morris Dance performance in the courtyard of Sutton House
  1. Belcher 2004, p. 15.
  2. "Hackney: Homerton and Hackney Wick". www.british-history.ac.uk. 1995.
  3. Belcher 2004, p. 18.
  4. Belcher 2004, p. 25.
  5. Belcher 2004, p. 23.
  6. Hackney: Education, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 148-165 accessed 26 January 2008.
  7. Oakley, Malcolm (29 April 2014). "The History of Sutton House Hackney". East London History. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  8. "Delve into the history of Sutton House". National Trust. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  9. Sutton House Society Newsletter, June 2007 accessed 23 June 2007
  10. "Sutton House and Breaker's Yard". National Trust. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  11. "Venue hire at Sutton House | London".
  12. Belcher 2004, p. 26.

Sources

Further reading

  • Patrick Wright: A Journey Through Ruins (Radius, 1991)
  • Jennifer Jenkins and Patrick James: From Acorn to Oak Tree (Macmillan, 1994)