| Summary : Hadham Hall, Country House. Parts of present building built circa 1572. Large brick courtyard house of Henry Capel, replacing a 15th century house to South-East. Extensions to East with terraced gardens, by Arthur Capel, circa 1634. Reduced to South and West wings circa 1668 when Earl of Essex moved to Cassiobury. Altered circa 1720. East part of South wing demolished 1848. Renovated and extended to North 1901-2 by William Minet (owner acting as architect). Converted to a school 1949-52, closed 1990. There is also a Gatehouse range 60m West of the house. Early 16th century for the Capel family incorporating a 15th century brick building presumably built for the Baud family. 2 storeys red brick range facing South with central gateway to entrance court. There is also the earthwork remains of a former moated manor house and fishponds. Converted to housing c1993. |
More information : (TL 45132273) Moat (NR)
(TL 45252275) Hadham Hall (NR) (1)
Hadham Hall is the remaining part of a brick manor house built
by the Capels in c 1575. It was originally a court-yard house
but all that now remains of 16th century date is the W range, with
the main entrance and part of the S range; additions were made
in the 17th and 19th cents. There were two houses before the
present one; the first stood on a moated site (TL 45132273) a
few hundred yds W of the existing house and the other (which
was probably built c 1440 by the Bauds) appears to have been
partly incorporated into the present house at its SE corner.
The homestead moat is all that is left of the first house but
foundations of the second one still remain.
A portion of the Gatehouse (which stands 100 yads W of the
present house) is of the 15th cent; the remainder, including
the archway, is of the 16th cent. (2-5)
The remaining W range of Hadham Hall (which formed part of
a senior school), the gatehouse and a contemporary Tudor brick
tithe barn are basically as described and form an outstanding
group. (See ground photographs.)
Traces of the N & S wing foundation are visible, and part of
the Bauds original Hall is though to have been un-covered by a
school excavation at TL 45302271.
Although possibly the remains of a homestead moat, a
waterfilled 'L'-shaped pond, to the S of the gatehouse, is more
likely to be a fishpond. Informal excavations by Headmaster
Mr E J Douglas and pupils from the school have failed to detect
any former continuance of the pond, or any trace of the
original house supposedly situated within the enclosed area.
Field investigation endorses these findings. The position of the
16th c. gatehouse suggests there has not been an extension at
the northern end of the pond. Its tapered shape varying
between 22.0m and 6.0m in width is further evidence that this
is a fishpond.
Published survey (25") revised. (6)
School closed 1990 and the Hall was converted to housing c1993. (7)
In the 11th century William, Bishop of London, owned the manor of Hadham. At his death in 1076, William the Conqueror made a grant of land to William of Baud and his name is recorded in the Domesday Book as Lord of Hadham. He built the first Hadham Hall (moated) and it served as the manor house for 350 years.
By 1440 Thomas Baud had built a more substantial manor house on the site of the original. The remains of which is the eastern section of its gatehouse, barn and part of an old cottage.
The Hall was sold to William Capel in 1504. The Capels lived in their other home in Rayne, but alterations were made to Hadham hall. Excavations in 1972 uncovered kilns used to make the bricks for these works. After William Capel's death he left the manor to his widow, who in turn left it to her son Sir Gyles Capel. Henry Capel moved into Hadham Hall after the death of his wife in 1572. Between 1572 and 1578 he had the hall demolished and built ,partly on the same footprint, the Elizabethan mansion that stands today.
In 1632 Hadham Hall was inherited by Arthur Capel, who made many additions and alterations to the property. The property then passed to his son, also Arthur, who lived in the house until 1668 when he moved to his mother’s estate at Cassiobury. Hadham Hall soon fell into disrepair.
When Arthur Capel died in 1683, the deer were taken from Hadham Park to Epping Forest, the house was partly converted into a farmhouse and the estate itself divided up into three farms. The Banqueting Hall was then demolished and the building materials probably used to build two new farmhouses needed at Wickham Hall and Hadham Old Park Lodge.
The Capel family retained the house and around 1720, that part of the building which remained was modernised in the Queen Anne style. A series of tenants farmed at the Hall until in 1900, George Devereux de Vere Capel, the 8th Earl of Essex, sold the Hall and accompanying land, to William Minet (1851–1933), a London merchant of French descent. He set about restoring the existing buildings to their former state making alterations and adding his own personal touches. In 1948 the Hall was sold to Hertfordshire County Council and they converted it into a school.
Then in 1990 the school was closed and the house with 40 acres was put on the market. (8) |