Oxburgh Hall, Oxborough, Norfolk. Architectual Investigation Report. A Survey and Investigation of the Moated House.
Author(s): Adam Menuge
Oxburgh Hall is a large brick-built house, laid out on a courtyard plan and surrounded by a moat. It was built in the late 15th century for Edmund Bedingfeld, a rising courtier, and remained in the Bedingfeld family until 1952, when ownership passed to the National Trust. Bedingfeld was granted a license to crenellate on 3 July 1482, but the roof timbers of the west range have been dendro-dated to the period 1437-63 and they appear to have been re-used from an earlier building. In the 1670s the house was refurbished by the 2nd Baronet and further alterations occurred in the early and mid-18th century, including the reinstatement of part of the east range, burnt during the Civil War. Between 1775 and 1779 the hall range was demolished and replaced by two pavilions designed by John Tasker. Between 1830 and the early 1860s the house was transformed, initially at least by the architect John Chessell Buckler, who swept away many of the post-medieval alterations, replacing them with moulded terracotta gothic details supplied by the Costessey brickworks, and remodelling many of the principal interiors. A considerable amount of 15th-century fabric survives nevertheless, including the tall gatehouse with its well-appointed suite of lodgings.
- Report Number:
- 22/2006
- Series:
- Research Department Reports
- Pages:
- 198
