Sudbury Hall

Sudbury Hall is a late 17th century brick-built house with fine interior decoration. It is one of the most individual houses of the period.

When work began on the house in 1664 Lord George Vernon employed the finest craftsmen and artists of the period. Sudbury Hall has unusual diapered brickwork and a carved two-storey stone frontispiece.

The architectural influences include Jacobean and classical styles.

The interior has magnificent decorative plasterwork, woodcarving by Grinling Gibbons, including a splendid overmantel, and painted ceilings by Louis Laguerre. The great staircase is one of the finest of its kind in any English country house.

Although plans were made to alter the building over the years few were carried out and the house remains mostly as it was originally intended. In 1967 the house was accepted by the Treasury as part payment of estate duty and transferred to the National Trust.

In the 19th century a service wing was added and this now houses the National Trust Museum of Childhood. This begins with the 18th century but the emphasis of the exhibition is on the Victorian and Edwardian ages.