Ingatestone Hall

A Country House of the Latter Sixteenth Century

Ingatestone Hall was built in brick around 1540 by William Petre (it's pronounced "Peter") on an Essex property called variously "Gynge Abbess" or "Yenge atte Stone", which Petre bought from the Crown in 1539 after the dissolution of the wealthy nunnery of Our Lady and St. Ethelberga of Barking. The Hall is still standing.

These plans represent the main Hall in the period 1550-1600. Other buildings on the property included a gatehouse, porter's lodge, bakehouse, brewery, milk-house, stable, mews, slaughter-house, granary, wash-house, fish-house, still-house, and chambers for the majority of the servants.

A house of office is a privy, and a closet is any small private room, not necessarily used for storing clothes. Mistress Keble is Sir William's good mother, or mother-in-law.

These drawings are based on floor plans in Tudor Secretary by F.G. Emmison, Harvard, 1961. Post-1600 alterations have been omitted. - PKM

  Ingatestone Hall Official Web Site
  Household Management
  Domestic Details

27 October 2009 pkm