Blickling Hall

Blickling Hall is a stately home in the village of Blickling north of Aylsham in Norfolk, England, and in the care of the National Trust since 1940.

History

Blicking Hall was once in the possession of the Boleyn family, and home to Sir Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and his wife, Elizabeth, between 1499 and 1505. It is presumed that their first two children Mary and George were born at Blickling Hall, along with several other Boleyn infants who did not live long. If the couple's most famous child, Anne, was born before 1505 (as one school of historical thought contends) then she too was born at Blickling. Other historians maintain that Anne was born after 1505, probably in 1507, and by that time Sir Thomas had moved to Hever Castle in Kent. Nonetheless, a statue and portrait of Anne Boleyn reside in Blickling Hall claiming "Anna Bolena hic nata 1507" (Anne Boleyn born here 1507).

The current Blickling Hall was built on the ruins of the old Boleyn property in the reign of James I, by the Hobarts. In 1616, Sir Henry Hobart Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and 1st Baronet bought Blickling from Robert Clere. The architect of Hatfield House, Robert Lyminge, is credited with the design of the current structure. The Lord Chief Justice married Dorothy, the daughter of Sir Robert Bell of Beaupre Hall, Outwell/Upwell, Norfolk, Speaker of the House of Commons 1572–1576. A grand display of heraldic material is present throughout the estate.

In the 20th century

During World War II the house was requisitioned and served as the Officers Mess of nearby RAF Oulton. It was at this time that the house and its estate passed to The National Trust, under the terms of the Country Houses Scheme.

At the end of the war, the house was de-requisitioned. The National Trust again let it to tenants until 1960, when the Trust began the work to restore the house to a style reflecting its history. The house and grounds were opened to the public in 1962 and remain open under the name "Blickling Hall, Garden & Park".

Blickling Hall is used as "Bono's house" in an episode of I'm Alan Partridge. It was voted the most haunted house in Britain in a National Trust survey in October 2007.[1]

Library

The library at Blickling Hall contained and still contains one of the most historically significant collections of manuscripts and books in England. The most important manuscript associated with the house is the Blickling homilies, which is one of the earliest extant examples of English vernacular homiletic writings. This volume is now housed in the Firestone Library at Princeton University (MS. 71, s.x/xi) and privately owned by the Scheide family who reside in New Jersey. The Blickling homilies have been edited and translated twice, once in the 19th century by Richard Morris, and very recently by Richard J. Kelly, who discusses the significance of the Blickling Hall collection in the introduction to his edition and translation.

Blickling Hall main entrance way.

References

• Woodcock, T., Robinson, J., Heraldry in Historic Houses of Great Britain, p. 46-51,pb. 2000, ISBN 0-8109-6691-3

External links

• Blickling Hall, Garden & Park information at the National Trust
• The Headless ghosts of Blickling Hall - an animated myth