Sudbury Hall

The south front of Sudbury Hall

Sudbury Hall is a country house in Sudbury in Derbyshire, built in the seventeenth century for the Vernon family, and now owned by the National Trust.

This is reckoned one the country's finest Restoration mansions and has Grade I listed building status.

History and features

The Vernon family came to Sudbury as a result of the 16th-century marriage of Sir John Vernon to Ellen Montgomery the Sudbury heiress. The house was built between 1660 and 1680 by George Vernon, grandfather of George Venables-Vernon the 1st Baron Vernon.

The house is notable for its superb Great Staircase, fine Long Gallery, and portraits by John Michael Wright, and of Charles II's mistresses. Inside there are a mixture of architectural styles with carvings by Grinling Gibbons and Edward Pearce, murals by Louis Laguerre and elaborate plasterwork by Samuel Mansfield, James Pettifer and Robert Bradbury. The carvings above the main entrance porch were sculpted by William Wilson. There are formal gardens with a tree-fringed lake.

The property was leased for three years from 1840 by Queen Adelaide, the widow of King William IV. The east wing was added by George Devey in 1876–83.

The house was given to the National Trust by the Vernon family in 1967.

National Trust Museum of Childhood

The National Trust Museum of Childhood is housed in the 19th-century servants' wing of Sudbury Hall.

Filming

The house was also used for the internal Pemberley scenes in the BBC's 1995 dramatisation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Outside links

• Sudbury Hall – National Trust

References

• Knott, Cherry Ann (July 2010). GEORGE VERNON 1636–1702 ‘Who built this House’ Sudbury Hall Derbyshire. Tun House. ISBN 978-0-9565240-0-3.