Save Hengrave
Hengrave Hall has hosted King Henry VIII, Queen Mary I, and Queen Elizabeth I on their Royal Progresses, and King James I for a family wedding. It was the home of madrigalist John Wilbye and composer Edward Johnson. It is a unique witness to nearly 1,000 years of English history, and stands in mute testimony to the artists and architecture that transformed the country. It has an American link as well, for Margaret, the sister of Sir Thomas Kytson the Elder, married into the Washington family, and is an ancestress of George Washington, and Sit Thomas Kytson the younger married Elizabeth Cornwallis, whose many-times-removed grand-nephew Charles Cornwallis led British troops against his cousin George.
The Hall itself passed from the Kytson to the Gage Family, and from there to the Lysaght family in 1887, and the Wood family in 1895. It was then bought by the Religious of the Assumption, who ran a convent school until 1974, and then founded an ecumenical Community of Reconciliation and Christian Conference Center. Hengrave Hall has inspired the thousands who passed beneath its stately entrance and served their callings upon its grounds, and the thousands who know of it only as off-site home of a group of devoted reenactors who are dedicated to preserving and sharing the knowledge of Renaissance customs, skills, crafts, and folkways.
And now it needs your help.
In 2005, the Sisters of the Assumption had to sell Hengrave Hall because they could not raise enough capital for necessary improvements. It's new owner, David Harris, has submitted plans to convert this long-lived, grand old house that truly IS living history, into private flats. I ask anyone and everyone that has been touched by this house, or by the Company of St. George and its mission at the Maryland Renaissance festival, or by Living History and reenactment activities of the Tudor and Elizabethan eras, or by a love of history and preservation, to please join me in urging the local zoning commission to disallow this plan, and the Heritage Trust to purchase Hengrave so that future generations may study and enjoy this most precious piece of property for the national jewel that it it.
Please help by writing positive, polite, and concise letters to the people listed below. These are the contacts for the conservation office. I am trying to get contact information for the Heritage Trust, and will post with it later.
Conservation Team,
Environment Directorate,
St Edmundsbury Borough Council,
Western Way, Bury StEdmunds, IP33 3YS
Christine Leveson
Principal Conservation Officer
T: 01284 757356
chris.leveson@stedsbc.gov.uk
Claire Johnson
Senior Conservation Officer
T: 01284 757339
claire.johnson@stedbc.gov.uk
Email: conservation@stedsbc.gov.uk
(please repost where ever this may find help)
The Hall itself passed from the Kytson to the Gage Family, and from there to the Lysaght family in 1887, and the Wood family in 1895. It was then bought by the Religious of the Assumption, who ran a convent school until 1974, and then founded an ecumenical Community of Reconciliation and Christian Conference Center. Hengrave Hall has inspired the thousands who passed beneath its stately entrance and served their callings upon its grounds, and the thousands who know of it only as off-site home of a group of devoted reenactors who are dedicated to preserving and sharing the knowledge of Renaissance customs, skills, crafts, and folkways.
And now it needs your help.
In 2005, the Sisters of the Assumption had to sell Hengrave Hall because they could not raise enough capital for necessary improvements. It's new owner, David Harris, has submitted plans to convert this long-lived, grand old house that truly IS living history, into private flats. I ask anyone and everyone that has been touched by this house, or by the Company of St. George and its mission at the Maryland Renaissance festival, or by Living History and reenactment activities of the Tudor and Elizabethan eras, or by a love of history and preservation, to please join me in urging the local zoning commission to disallow this plan, and the Heritage Trust to purchase Hengrave so that future generations may study and enjoy this most precious piece of property for the national jewel that it it.
Please help by writing positive, polite, and concise letters to the people listed below. These are the contacts for the conservation office. I am trying to get contact information for the Heritage Trust, and will post with it later.
Conservation Team,
Environment Directorate,
St Edmundsbury Borough Council,
Western Way, Bury StEdmunds, IP33 3YS
Christine Leveson
Principal Conservation Officer
T: 01284 757356
chris.leveson@stedsbc.gov.uk
Claire Johnson
Senior Conservation Officer
T: 01284 757339
claire.johnson@stedbc.gov.uk
Email: conservation@stedsbc.gov.uk
(please repost where ever this may find help)