Monarchs, Rothschilds and ruin: The extraordinary tale of one of Britain’s most beautiful moated homes
Rushbrooke Hall was arguably one of Britain's most beautiful and romantic-looking homes. But, like most of the houses in this series, it's demise was brutal.
There is a saying that an Englishman’s home is his castle. Rushbrooke Hall in Suffolk, while technically not a castle, boasted an impressive moat, and was associated with two of the country’s most famous monarchs: Elizabeth I and Charles I. Castle-worthy qualities, surely?
Described as an exceptionally beautiful, red brick building, with gables and turrets, Rushbrooke was built for Sir Robert Jermyn — grandfather to the Stuart courtier and visionary property developer Henry Jermyn, the 1st Earl of St Albans. (The Earl was responsible for the development of land to the north of St James’s Palace in London, including what we know today as the West End, Duke Street, and Jermyn Street.
Two young men were photographed in deep conversation by the house's moat by Country Life photographer Charles Latham, in 1903.
Good Queen Bess graced Sir Robert with her presence not once, but twice, during her reign, holding court at Rushbrooke in 1577 during her summer progress through East Anglia.
Later, his grandson, Henry, was to go one step further in courting royalty, 'befriending' Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I. There were even scandalous rumours that Henry was Charles II's father. Whatever the truth of the matter, the relics sold at a sale of items from the hall in the early 20th century spoke to an exceptionally close relationship to both the Elizabethan and Caroline eras.
In 1903, Country Life's H. Avary Tipping and photographer Charles Latham visited Rushbrooke and reported it to be in rude health. Now in the possession of a Mr R. W. Jermyn Rushbrooke, the charming property had been vastly improved upon during the preceding centuries. There was a vast, Kentian double height hallway with a magnificent marble fireplace, held up by caryatids. The ornate wood and plasterwork chimneypiece was festooned with swags. And a vast oak staircase ferried visitors to the upper floors past a dizzying array of family portraits executed by the likes of Sir Peter Lely and van Dyck.
The magnificent oak staircase guarded by family portraits.
Tipping was enchanted, writing: ‘ It is one of those old mansions that seem to breathe the spirit of former times. We may even fancy we still hear there the footfall of the old cavalier and the rustle of his lady’s gown.'
Sadly, the First World War brought things to a rude halt. On the August 23, 1919, Rushbrooke and the associate village and farms, were put on the market, alongside a heartbreaking array of other estates around the country, now bereft of men and means. In fact, there were so many houses of good standing on the market that Rushbrooke only featured on the eighth page of the property supplement it was listed in.
Knight Frank, then Knight, Frank and Rutley, organised the sale of items from the hall in 1919. An Elizabethan four-poster bed in its original state fetched 850 guineas (more than £50,000 in today's money) and a van Dyck of Henry Jermyn realised 500 guineas. Bizarrely, Charles I's silk brocade suit only made 35 guineas, and his a clothes chest, 50 guineas.
The double-height entrance hall.
In 1921, Rushbrooke's salvation arrived in the form of Lord and Lady Islington (he was a governor of New Zealand and served in the governments of both Herbert Henry Asquith and David Lloyd George; she was the granddaughter of Baron Napier of Magdala) — who showered it worth attention and care until Lord Islington's death in 1936, when it was purchased by Lord Rothschild.
He, in turn, lent it to the Red Cross in the Second World War, who used it as a convalescent home (the first in Suffolk).
After the war, Lord Rothschild had little use for the ageing home, but failed to find anyone willing to occupy it. By 1955, it was in dire need of about £50,000-worth of works (£1.6 million).
In October of the same year, it was reported that Lord Rothschild had offered numerous local councils any of the contents that they deemed suitable for their own use of preservation, but none of them took him up on the offer.
Unable to give away the treasures or to spend the required amount to make the building viable, Lord Rothschild had to agree to have the property demolished in 1961.
Rushbrooke Hall was placed in the hands of demolition contractors, but before they could wreak their own havoc, a fire ripped through the centuries-old hall, taking everything that remained with it. It was a tragic end to the one-time home of the man who created many of London's most impressive, and still standing, streets.
The Country Life Image Archive contains more than 150,000 images documenting British culture and heritage, from 1897 to the present day. To search and purchase images directly from the Image Archive, please register here.
