Tasburgh Hall formerly Tasburgh Lodge

In 1779 a London banker and Quaker, Thomas Mildred, married Elizabeth Hart, the youngest daughter of Charles Hart of Hapton Hall, a fellow Quaker. That same year the Manorial Court records show that he had purchased from James Gooch all his land and properties in Tasburgh, Stratton St. Michael and Tharston on which it seems he then built a new house for himself and his wife because on Wednesday 20th September 1786 the following advertisement appeared in the London Times : -

"NORFOLK

To be SOLD by PRIVATE CONTRACT and immediate possession given

A Very desirable ESTATE, chiefly FREEHOLD, the remainder Copyhold, situate at Tasburgh in the COUNTY of NORFOLK, consisting of a GENTEEL modern good HOUSE, recently erected, and in complete order, called TASBURGH LODGE;

With GARDENS, FISH PONDS, COACH HOUSE, Stalled Stable for Seven Horses, Granary, complete Kennel for Ten Couple of Hounds, Two Barns, Bullock-shed, Farm Stable for Thirteen Horses, Cart Lodge and various other Buildings with ONE HUNDRED and SIXTY FOUR ACRES of exceeding rich LAND, Forty-Two of which are fine Grass. Yearly Value of the whole ONE HUNDRED and EIGHTY POUNDS.

The situation is very pleasant and clean; is in fine Sporting Country, abounding with Game, within eight miles of Norwich, and Half-a-Mile of the Great Turn-pike Road from London to that City. The Buildings are in most excellent Repair; the Land in the highest state of Cultivation, well Enclosed, the greatest part with good Quick Hedges, part bounded by a Rivulet; and the whole most amply supplied with Water."

A similar advertisement appeared the following month in the Norfolk Chronicle, adding that further Particulars could be had from Mr Thomas Mildred of Tasburgh "who will show the Premises", suggesting that he was in residence. Earlier that year, in the Bury and Norwich Post, T. Mildred Esq. of Tasburgh had been publicly accused of "blackening a man's character by spreading falsehoods" and of "not being a Gentleman", but it seems unlikely that was the reason for sale. One of the subscribers to Blomefield's History of Norfolk, first published in 1806, was a T. Mildred of Earsham Park, so possibly the same person.

The next known occupant was Thomas Broadbank, who was included on the 1802 register of electors for Tasburgh and whose residence is confirmed by an announcement in October 1804 in the Ipswich Journal of "the much lamented death of Mrs Broadbank, wife of Mr Thomas Broadbank, of Tasburgh Lodge, one of the Society of Friends", so we know they were also Quakers and no doubt supporters of the Tasburgh Meeting House in what is now Quaker Lane, and of which Mr Mildred had previously been one of the trustees. On 22nd April 1807 the Bury and Norwich Post reported that " lately was married Thomas Broadbank of Tasburgh, in this county, to Mrs Coleby of Kelvedon, Essex" and it seems that he may have then moved down to Kelvedon because the following year records show that he died and was buried there in the Quaker Burying Ground.

It isn't known whether Tasburgh Lodge was sold before or after Mr Broadbank's death but by the time of the Enclosure Award of 1818 the recorded owner was John Ives, a member of the wealthy Norwich woollen merchant family, who supplied four mayors of Norwich in the 18th century. The Map attached to the 1818 Enclosure Award, held at the Norfolk Record Office, shows that the house was set back from, but facing, the road leading to the ford with a separate long range of outbuildings behind, end on and slightly closer to the river. As the house was so closely aligned with an adjusted parish boundary which would otherwise have followed the line of the river, it would seem entirely possible that the adjustment was made after the house had been built, in which case the "recently built" house sold in 1786 might well have been the first house on the site, with the boundary also having been diverted at the behest of Mr Mildred so as to include the Hall Farm buildings and land on the other side of the road. Rather strangely however, this means that most of the gardens are situated in the next parish of Tharston, so it is also possible that the house he built replaced an earlier property on the same alignment.

The property changed hands again in 1825 after it was put up for sale by auction following the death of Mr Ives. The Bury and Norwich Post carried the following description of the Estate: -

"TASBURGH LODGE, late the Residence of JOHN IVES, Esq. deceased; comprising an excellent Dwelling-house, Gardens, Pleasure Grounds, Orchards, and 170 Acres (more or less) of Arable, Pasture, and Meadow Land.

The House, which is substantially built, comprises on the ground floor – dining-room, drawing-room, and study, large entrance-hall, two staircases, large and lofty kitchen and back kitchen with leaden pump, housekeeper's-room and butler's pantry, with large and excellent beer and wine cellars. On the first floor are five good bedrooms, a dressing-room, laundry and water closet, with attics over the whole. The detached Offices consist of a Double Coach-house, lofty Stables for 7 Horses, Hay-lofts and Granary over them, a Dairy, and every other requisite convenience.

The Farming Buildings comprise 2 large Barns, with Stabling for 10 Horses, Bullock, Cow, and Colt Yards, all surrounded by Sheds, Waggon and Cart Lodges. Also a Bailiff's House which might, at small expense, be converted into a Farm-house. All the Buildings are Brick and Tile, and in excellent repair, a large sum of money having been expended upon them within a few years.

The Estate is situated in a fine healthy part of the country, in a good neighbourhood, 9 miles from Norwich, and 2 miles from Long Stratton, a post town. The Ipswich mail and three day coaches pass within half a mile of the House. The property is eligible for a Gentleman fond of Field Diversions, being in good sporting country. The Land is of the best quality, and contains many thriving Plantations, with excellent Fences, full of Trees and Pollards."

The buyer was William Gwyn, a 28 year-old lieutenant on the Royal Navy reserve list. With a large family and the four or five resident servants who supported them, William doubled the depth of the house so that on the Tithe Apportionment map of 1840 it appears as almost square. In addition to farming the land which went with the house he was also a local magistrate. As a naval officer on the reserve list William Gwyn would have received promotion by seniority and by 1871 he was described as Commander Gwyn R.N. but he died in 1880, although it seems that he may have by then risen to the rank of Captain because his executors were referred to at various points as the executors of Captain Gywn. The 1881 census records the Hall as being "to let", with the gardener, Robert Meadows, in charge. Mr Meadows' son, Matthias, is referred to as a footman, out of employment, so evidently had lost his job when William Gwyn died, and the other servants had also departed. In Kelly's 1883 Norfolk Directory Edward Grove was named as the occupant, but given the 1881 reference to the Lodge being to let, he may only have been the tenant, especially as the Directory names William Gwyn's executors as still being one of the two principal landowners in the village, along with Rainthorpe Hall. In any event he wasn't mentioned in the 1888 Directory which still refers to William Gwyn's executors as being principal landowners. The next owner of the estate was Philip Berney Ficklin who completely remodelled the house by adding the distinctive south and east fronts in the Jacobean style and incorporating what had been the back range of buildings into the main house as domestic offices, so that the present exterior of Tasburgh Hall, as he renamed it, was largely his creation. The heraldic shields above the main gate pillars bear his arms and although damaged, they clearly match those on a number of cottages in Low Road, signifying his ownership of those as part of the estate.

Although Philip Berney Ficklin didn't die until 1917, there is no record of him or his wife in the 1901 or 1911 census returns for the whole of the UK, and it seems the Hall was unoccupied at the relevant times, because in 1901 Robert Ward was recorded as a coachman and the caretaker, whilst in 1911 Robert Matthews was gardener and caretaker, the census return being signed on behalf of Mr Berney Ficklin by his agent H.G.Woolsey. He must also have had a London residence, possibly in Cavendish Square, because both of his younger sons were born there. Nevertheless, the Hall must have been in use at times as it was one of the first properties in the area with a telephone, number Long Stratton 6, and was referred to in Kelly's Norfolk Directory of 1904 and 1916 (but not 1908) as the home of Philip Berney Ficklin J.P. After Mr Berney Ficklin's death and that of his wife Rita four years later, the Hall was sold by the family but Hall Farm was retained along with Elm Farm, Grange Farm and the Low Road cottages, by his son Alexander.

Kelly's 1922 Norfolk Directory records that Tasburgh Hall was occupied by Alfred Dandrage, but whether as owner or tenant isn't known, although the 1925/6 Directory shows him as still being there. However the owner during the late 1920s and 30s was Mr Henry Rivers Neville, another owner with Norfolk connections having been born in the Norwich Cathedral Close, the son of The Venerable H. R. Neville, archdeacon of Norwich. Living with him were his sister Margaret and brother Walter and wife, Maria. In 1937/8 he supervised and helped pay for a number of changes and improvements in Tasburgh church, incorporating into a new chancel screen some early wooden tracery found at the Hall, almost certainly left over from the work of Mr Berney Ficklin. Henry Neville had originally served in the Indian Civil Service for which he had been awarded an O.B.E. but his wife had died out there, as commemorated on a brass plaque which he installed in the church in her memory, whilst his brother Walter had served as an officer in the East Indian Railway Volunteer Rifles.

Following Henry Neville's death in 1939, the Hall was put up for sale by auction shortly after the beginning of WW2, but the property was requisitioned for use by the army as the location of a search-light battery, and it then became a residence and school for evacuee children. Immediately after the war, the Hall was bought by Mr John Ellis, the owner of Dipples, the jewellers in Norwich, and in addition to restoring the Hall and its gardens from wartime neglect, he and his wife did a lot for the village in terms of hosting dances, fetes and garden parties in the days before there was a village hall and playing field. They were succeeded by Mr and Mrs John Walton who also supported the village and in particular the church, where they were largely responsible for the funding of the church room which was opened in 1978. Mr Walton, who owned a large collection of paintings by Alfred Munnings, died in 1984 but Mrs Walton continued at the Hall until her death four years later. After that the property was acquired by a Buddhist community but when that folded after a few years, the Hall was bought by four sisters and their husbands, three living in their own separate parts of the main house and the fourth couple in the house by the back gates on the Hapton road. After they went their own separate ways in 2007, a major program of repairs and improvements was undertaken by the current occupants, Keith and Caroline Mansfield, in order to restore the Hall to a single residence, fit for the 21st century.