Blickling Hall

Blickling Hall was built in around 1620, on the site of an earlier house, for Sir Henry Hobart, Lord Chief Justice to James I. The architect was probably Robert Lyminge who had designed another Jacobean mansion, Hatfield House, a few years earlier.

Blickling has richly modelled red-brick facades with stone dressings adorned with domes, towers, chimneys and curved Dutch gables. The great mullioned and transomed windows are typical of the period. The entrance front has service ranges with ornate Dutch gables extending out on either side and continued by immense hedges of dark yew.

In the 18th century Blickling was partly remodelled by Thomas and William Ivory for John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckingham. The house is a harmonious combination of Jacobean and Georgian design and the Ivorys' ranges to the north and west blend beautifully with the work of Lyminge.

Although the exterior is Jacobean the interior is mostly Georgian.

The Ivorys remodelled many of the rooms in 1785 including the great hall and staircase. They also fitted out a room between 1778 - 1782 to accommodate a vast tapestry depicting Peter the Great. This was a gift brought back by the 2nd Earl who had been an ambassador at the court of Catherine the Great in St Petersburg.

Some Jacobean decoration remains including Sir Henry's long gallery which has a finely decorated ceiling from the 1620s.

In around 1745 the long gallery was converted into a library to house a collection of books inherited from Sir Richard Ellys. The room also has a delicately painted Pre-Raphaelite frieze above the bookcases by J.H.Pollen. This was commissioned by 8th Marquis of Lothian shortly after he inherited Blickling in 1850.

When Peter Kerr, 11th Marquis of Lothian, died in 1940 while ambassador in Washington, he gave the property to the National Trust.