Costessey Hall, Manor castle in Norfolk, England
Costessey Hall was a manor house in Norfolk, England, built in a Gothic style with multiple turrets, ornamental chimneys, and elaborate gables along its facade. A large central keep rose above the rest of the structure, giving the whole building the appearance of a fortified castle rather than a country home.
The estate was given to Sir Henry Jerningham by Queen Mary I in 1555, as a reward for his support during her fight for the throne. The Jerningham family held onto it for several centuries before the building was pulled down in 1925.
The name Costessey comes from an old Anglo-Saxon place name, pointing to how deep the roots of this site go in the local area. The scattered remains visible on the golf course today give a sense of how large and central the estate once was in the life of the surrounding villages.
The remains sit within a golf course on private land, so access to the site is not guaranteed for general visitors. It is worth checking in advance whether entry to the area with the visible ruins is possible before making the trip.
Before the building came down, its stained glass windows were sold off individually and installed in other buildings, where some can still be seen today. This means that parts of Costessey Hall survive in unexpected places, scattered across different sites far from Norfolk.
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