Fornham Hall

Fornham Hall was a large country house near Bury St Edmunds.

The Fornham estate was bought by Samuel Kent, a rich grain merchant, in 1731. Kent became a local MP and High Sheriff of Suffolk.

Sir Charles Kent (Samuel’s son-in-law) employed James Wyatt to design a large new house on the estate in the 1770s. The house was acquired by Bernard Howard (subsequently 12th Duke of Norfolk) in 1797. It was expanded on the Duke’s behalf by the architect Robert Abraham in the 1820s and sold to Lord Manners in 1842; in 1862 Manners sold it to Sir William Gilstrap in 1842.

The estate was acquired by the War Office in 1939 and used for training purposes by the Royal Engineers during World War II before the house was demolished in 1957.

The grounds include the tower of the ruined church of St Genevieve.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.