Wolterton Hall
| Wolterton Hall | |
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.JPG)
North elevation
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| General information | |
| Type | Historic house |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| Town or city | Near Aylsham, Norfolk, NR11 7LY |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 52°50′26″N 1°12′37″E / 52.840635°N 1.210311°E |
| Completed | 1742 |
| Inaugurated | 1725 |
| Renovated | 1828 |
| Client | Horatio Walpole |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Brick, Portland Stone Cladding (Ground floor) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Thomas Ripley George Stanley Repton (East Wing, 1828) |
| Other designers |
Charles Bridgeman (Parkland and Lake) William Gilpin (gardens) |
| Website | |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Designated | 25 February 1952 |
| Reference no. | 224529 |
Wolterton Hall is a large country house which is located in the ecclesiastical parish of Wickmere with Wolterton and the civil parish of Wickmere in the English county of Norfolk, England, United Kingdom. The present hall was completed in 1742 and was designed by the architect Thomas Ripley who was a protégé of the Walpole brothers.
The name Wolterton (Ultretune) devolved from the Anglo-Saxon language and has the meaning of Wulfthryth’s (a woman) enclosure (tun or ton) settlement or farm.
The present hall and estate was once occupied by an early manor house, owned by Sir Henry Spelman, and the village of Wolterton which was abandoned leaving only the remains of the parish church tower which stands a short distance north of the present hall. Evidence shown on a map produced in 1733 shows that the deserted settlement of Wolterton lay a little north of the church and consisted of several houses clustered around a village green. The village of Wolterton is mentioned in the Domesday Book where it is listed under the names Ultertuna and Wivetuna. The survey shows main landholder of Wolterton was the Norman nobelman William de Warenne. The listing shows 4 smallholders on the land with ½ a plough team on 16 acres. Land was also held by the Abbot of St. Benedict of Holme before 1066 and was valued at 16 shillings (80p) but at the time of the survey it was valued at 20 shillings (£1). The manor is 6 furlongs in length and 5 in width and had a tax value of 2½d (approx. 1p). The main tenant was Ralph of Beaufour.
Horatio Walpole acquired the manor house and estate at Wolterton in 1722 which he decided to renovate. Walpole was the younger brother of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, who was a British statesman who is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Like his brother, Horatio was also a politician and diplomat, and spend time at the Hague and had also been the Ambassador of France in Paris between 1724 and 1730. Horatio’s plans for the estate were jeopardised in 1724 when a fire swept the house destroying the structure. The architect Thomas Ripley was engaged to advise Walpole on the rebuild required.
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Wikipedia