A Four-Day Tour of Tudor Suffolk
Suffolk is one of my favourite counties for exploring Tudor buildings and their stories, and yet, curiously, I often find it overlooked by overseas travellers. It is one of my missions to put Tudor Suffolk well and truly on any Tudor time traveller’s map.
From one of the most stunning collections of Tudor tombs outside Westminster Abbey to the world’s largest and most authentic Tudor re-enactment festival, Suffolk is a glorious place to explore. So, let me show you an action-packed itinerary for a four-day stay in the area.
Let’s go!
Day One
Otley Hall
Hall Ln, Otley, Ipswich IP6 9PA
The owners of Otley Hall call it ‘Suffolk’s Hidden Historic Gem’ – and for a good reason. It is considered one of Suffolk’s oldest, most intact mediaeval houses. It is an architectural delight, oozing with intriguing Tudor history.
This fifteenth-century house is set within ten acres of picturesque gardens. Its interiors are largely preserved. So, expect to be wowed by the authentic internal decor, including a room covered in linenfold panelling from the 1520s, thought to have been brought by Cardinal Wolsey to Otley Hall for storage after surrendering Hampton Court to the King.
Other original features are a cosy great hall with screens passage and Elizabethan wall paintings celebrating the marriage of one of its most notable Tudor owners, Robert Gosnold III to Ursula Naunton in 1559. In fact, the Gosnold family lived at Otley Hall for 240 years from 1440. You can stand in the very room where it is said that Robert’s nephew, Bartholomew Gosnold, planned the first two voyages to the New World, discovering Cape Cod and the Martha’s Vineyard in 1602. A successful expedition followed this in 1607. That journey founded Jamestown, the first English settlement in what would become known as the United States of America.
Otley Hall has recently become a wedding venue, with various events held alongside regular tours. A pretty cafe, called Martha’s Barn cafe, is sited close to the main house in a picturesque setting overlooking the garden. Perfect for a sunny English summer’s day!
Framlingham Castle and Church
Church St, Framlingham, Woodbridge IP13 9BP
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/framlingham-castle/
In July 1553, Princess Mary was declared the new Queen of England at Framlingham Castle. She had fled there during the succession crisis when her Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, had been proclaimed queen, according to the will of the late King Edward VI.
At the time, the castle at Framlingham was part of Mary’s estates in East Anglia but had an illustrious history. It had been the principal country seat of the Dukes of Norfolk since the twelfth century when they inherited the castle through marriage. It was surrendered to the Crown following the fall of the 3rd Duke in 1547.
The scale and grandeur of this mighty fortress are best appreciated from across the adjacent lake, where there is an easy circular walk that allows the visitor to wonder at this impressive building. The gatehouse, curtain wall and battlement walk remain intact. However, the plethora of buildings that once hugged the perimeter of the central courtyard, including the privy apartments where Mary heard of her accession, have long since been lost. Only fragments of the great hall survive in a later building. Today this serves as the castle’s museum and shop. The castle is run by English Heritage, who also manage the car park adjacent to the castle’s entrance.
The Church of St Peter the Archangel is just down the road from the castle. It houses some of the most spectacular Tudor tombs you will likely see anywhere. The 3rd Duke had the tombs moved here from Thetford Priory after the latter’s Dissolution in 1540. At this point, it became the mausoleum for the Howards. Amongst the monuments, you will find the fine tombs of the 3rd Duke and (probably) his first wife, Anne; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and his wife, Frances de Vere, as well as that of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and his duchess, Mary Howard. If you want to learn more about the tombs, you can read about them on The Tudor Travel Guide blog.
Day Two:
Westhorpe Hall
The St, Westhorpe, Stowmarket IP14 4SS
Westhorpe Hall was once a glorious Tudor mansion buried deep in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. It was the principal country seat of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his third wife, Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. Building commenced shortly after the couple’s secret marriage in France in 1515 and continued for the next eight years. The result was a magnificent, moated manor house constructed from fashionable red brick. It consisted of four ranges configured around a central courtyard. The three-storey gatehouse, sited just inside the moat and on the far side of the surviving three-arched bridge, was decorated with turrets and pinnacles. The remaining ranges were two-storeyed, with the principal apartments most likely at the first-floor level.
Brandon spent lavishly on the project, but sadly, the building was demolished in the 1760s. Part of the moat has survived, along with the arched bridge that crossed into the central courtyard. However, a Georgian building now stands on the site of the manor and is currently run as a nursing home. A whisper of its past Tudor glory remains on the bridge’s south side, where parts of a frieze of terracotta panels can be seen sporting Brandon’s badge and the head of a lion.
If you ask permission, you will likely be allowed around the side of the main building where Brandon’s coat of arms still survives above the doorway, a hint of its illustrious past. This site is only for the most dedicated Tudor time traveller. Be prepared to take your imagination with you! To visit the site of the manor, head for the village of Westhorpe and look for the sign signifying you have arrived at Westhorpe Hall. To read more, click here.
Thetford Priory
Water Ln, Thetford IP24 1BB
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/thetford-priory/
Although in Norfolk, Thetford lies just over the border from Suffolk and is easily reached from Bury St Edmunds. If you are in the area, you will want to visit the ruins of Thetford Priory as, pre-Dissolution, it contained the mausoleum of the House of Norfolk. Notably, the 2nd Duke of Norfolk, father of Elizabeth Howard and grandfather of Anne Boleyn, was buried at the priory in 1524.
Although the 3rd Duke of Norfolk tried to preserve the abbey at the Dissolution, he failed. The abbey was closed and fell into ruin. This resulted in Thomas Howard moving some of the tombs, including that of his father and Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, to the family’s new mausoleum at Framlingham.
Today the intact gatehouse remains, as do a range of buildings that were once part of the prior’s lodgings. The abbey church lies in ruins, although a plaque close to the high altar remembers the initial burial place of the 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Today, Thetford Priory is managed by English Heritage, but entry is free during daylight hours.
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds is rich in Tudor history. It has particularly close ties with Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Duchess of Suffolk, whose country residence, Westhorpe Hall, lies 15 miles northeast of the town. Mary was buried initially in the Abbey of St Edmundsbury in Bury St Edmunds before being moved to the nearby parish church of St Mary following the abbey’s dissolution in 1539.
You can visit the abbey ruins in the picturesque Abbey Gardens and Mary’s tomb, next to the high altar, in St Mary’s. You can see two surviving abbey gateways and some houses curiously built into the ragged remains of the west end of the abbey. It was through this part of the abbey that Mary’s coffin was received before its burial in the Abbey church.
Don’t forget to walk five mins from Abbey Gardens to Moyses Museum in the centre of the town’s shopping area, where you can view a lock of Mary’s golden hair, which was taken from her tomb as a macabre souvenir in the eighteenth century. Also, note that it was in Bury St Edmunds that the Duke of Northumberland was deserted by the army he led in a fruitless attempt to arrest Mary Tudor during the succession crisis of 1553.
Day Three
Lavenham
Lavenham is a must for lovers of Tudor architecture as it can claim to be one of the best-preserved medieval villages in the country. As you wander its streets, you can savour one glorious timber-framed Tudor building after another. It is so olde-worlde that its streets are often used for film sets, including standing in for Godrick’s Hollow in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The village’s remarkable state of preservation is due to a quirk of history. During the sixteenth century, the village became incredibly wealthy due to its thriving wool trade. Unfortunately, the arrival of Dutch wool merchants settling in nearby Colchester brought wool that was manufactured at a lower cost. This signalled the decline in Lavenham’s fortunes. Unable to pay for fashionable Georgian updates to their houses, the buildings of Lavenham remained in their original, medieval state.
If you visit today, you can enjoy an impressive wool church (built in the 1520s) with the tallest church tower in England and a fine internal, carved oak parclose (like a screen); a stunning Guildhall, which dominates the marketplace, and the rich terracotta-coloured Little Hall, a fine example of a medieval wool merchant’s house.
Finally, if you want to stay in Lavenham, I can recommend The Swan, another fine, timber-framed, medieval building. If you stay there, seek out its great hall, a miniature version of the enormous halls we see in grand, mediaeval houses of the same period.
Long Melford Hall & Church
Melford Hall, Long Melford, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 9AA
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/melford-hall
Long Melford boasts not one but two significant Tudor properties: Kentwell and Long Melford Hall. The latter was once the property of the Abbots of St Edmundsbury Abbey before it was surrendered to the Crown in 1539. After that, it was leased to Sir William Cordell, a London-trained lawyer, who owed much of his advancement to the more prestigious Clopton family from nearby Kentwell.
However, the house that Sir William created was deemed grand enough to host a visit from Queen Elizabeth I in 1578. Over the centuries thereafter, it passed through various branches of the family and was severely damaged during the English Civil War. It was sold during the late eighteenth century by the Hyde Parkers, who still live in the house today, although the National Trust now owns it.
There is a pleasant garden (including a largely sixteenth-century banqueting house) and tea room to enjoy, with plenty of parking in the adjacent car park. While you are in the village, be sure to visit the local church, a so-called ‘wool’ church, in which there is an unusual chantry chapel built by the Cloptons, with some fine medieval architectural and decorative features.
Kentwell
High Street, Long Melford, Sudbury CO10 9BA
The other landed gentry family in Long Melford were the Cloptons of Kentwell. The house is mainly early sixteenth century, with a separate fifteenth century, part-timber framed service building to the rear.
Like many great houses, its interior has been remodelled by successive owners, particularly in the early 1800s. However, you can still enjoy its Tudor kitchens and great hall, which sits at the centre of this partially moated, ‘U’ shaped manor house.
Today, Kentwell is best known for its fabulous period re-enactments. The most notable one is run in ‘high summer’, usually for around ten days towards the end of August. You can expect to see an entire Tudor community recreated, from the Cloptons enjoying pursuits of the gentry through to milkmaids making cheese in the dairy, falconers with their birds and blacksmiths working in the forge. Every age and strata of society is represented in what is the world’s largest and most authentic Tudor festival.
Be sure to arrive early and plan to spend the whole day there; you will be entertained by the re-enactors, who are incredibly knowledgeable about the period. Make sure you interact and ask questions; the re-enactors will be delighted to chat with you in character. It is one of the best Tudor-themed, fun days out you can have anywhere in the country, great for families and grown-up ‘children’ alike!
Day Four
Ipswich
Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk. This port town has ancient roots, with continuous settlement since Anglo-Saxon times. Its most famous ‘son’ is Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, born in the town in 1473. There is great interest here for any Tudor history-loving time traveller. We include a brief highlight of some of the best here:
Christchurch Mansion was built in 1549 on the site of the Holy Trinity Augustinian Priory. After the Dissolution, the priory lands were purchased by a wealthy London merchant, Paul Withypoll, in 1545. Elizabeth I visited Ipswich in 1561 and possibly stayed at the house. Wall paintings and the Latin inscriptions inside and outside the house have all survived from the Tudor period. The mansion is run by the Ipswich Borough Council and is free for the public to enter. See www.cimuseums.org.uk
Wolsey started to build a College in Ipswich. His gatehouse to the college, on Key Street, remains, and so does the medieval St Peter and St Paul church next to it, which was used as Wolsey’s grammar school. Occasionally, the church is open to view – again free of charge. See www.stpetersbythewaterfront.com
Just 50 yards from the church, on the far corner of St Peter’s Street, is 26 St Nicholas Street. This was once the site of Wolsey’s childhood home. Nearby is St Nicholas Church. Robert Wolsey, Cardinal Wolsey’s father, was a churchwarden here.
Ipswich once had a shrine dedicated to Mary, Our Lady of Grace, only second in importance to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk. On a wall in Lady Lane is a plaque commemorating the shrine. Many miracles have been attributed to the shrine since medieval times. Pilgrims often asked that the Virgin Mary bless their marriage bed and make it fertile. One notable Tudor visitor was Catherine of Aragon when she visited the shrine in 1517. Henry VIII visited separately in 1522.
Unfortunately, the shrine was demolished during the Dissolution. Still, you can visit the new shrine, with the replica of the original Madonna and Child statue (now in Nettuno, Italy), in St Mary at the Elms Church in Elm Street. See www.stmaryattheelms.org.uk
While at the church, take notice of the Black Horse public house next door. Although it is not the original Tudor building, Thomas Wolsey was almost certainly born there and would have been christened at St Mary at the Elms.
Best Tudor Places to Stay in Suffolk:
West Stow Hall: once home to Mary Tudor, Queen of France’s Master of the Horse
Freston Tower: a mid-sixteenth century tower now owned by The Landmark Trust
Seckford Hall: a 1530s house visited by Elizabeth I in 1587.
With thanks to Phil Roberts, who contributed the information on Ipswich. For more information on Wolsey in Ipswich, see his book ‘Cardinal Wolsey – For King and Country‘.
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