England

Derbyshire

Sudbury

52.886338

-1.765233

1660s around earlier core

Fully Extant

Grade I

Grade II

No

XVII, 486, 1905. LXXVII, 622, 650 plan, 682, 1935. CXLIX, 1428, 1971.

Yes

01283-585-337

01283-585-139

The National Trust

Visitor Attraction

Vernon family

Montgomery family. George Vernon, 17th century. George Venables-Vernon, 1st Baron Vernon, 18th century.

George Vernon

The Vernon family came to Sudbury as a result of the 16th century marriage of Sir John Vernon to Ellen Montgomery, the Sudbury heiress. The House as seen today is largely the creation of George Vernon (1635/36-1702), who inherited the Sudbury Estate in 1660 and rebuilt the old manor house, probably to his own designs. The House has wood carving by Grinling Gibbons and William Wilson, superb plasterwork by Samuel Mansfield and Bradbury and Pettifer, and Baroque murals and painted ceilings by Louis Laguerre. The Great Staircase, with ceilings by Laguerre, is one of the most elaborate of its kind in an English house. Between 1840 and 1843 Sudbury was leased by Queen Adelaide, widow of William IV. After the death of the 9th Lord Vernon in 1963 the family offered the House and its principal contents to the nation in lieu of death duties; in 1967 H.M. Treasury transferred ownership of the Sudbury Estate to The National Trust, through the National Land Fund. Since many of the contents had been sold earlier in the 20th century, The National Trust was faced with the challenge of furnishing the House and decorating it; this was accomplished by James Lees-Milne, John Fowler, Christopher Wall, and Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, who worked together to create new interiors for Sudbury. In 1974 the Derbyshire County Council created the Museum of Childhood in Devey’s Victorian Service Wing.

Sudbury has wood carving by Grinling Gibbons and painted murals and ceilings by Louis Laguerre. There is a fine collection of portraits, particularly those of Charles II's mistresses, in the Long Gallery. There were sales of pictures, furniture, and books in 1918 and 1919.

Sudbury Hall is considered one of the finest Restoration houses in Britain. Oliver Garnett, writing in the Sudbury House Guidebook of 2005: "Of all the great houses built in Charles II's reign, Sudbury Hall is one of the most idiosyncratic: a marriage of old-fashioned Jacobean features (particularly on the exterior) with carved stone, wood and plasterwork in the up-to-date classical style of Sir Christopher Wren's City churches."

After the transfer of Sudbury Hall to H.M. Treasury in 1963 the 10th Lord Vernon, in 1965, built a new house on the Estate to the designs of Sir Martyn Beckett; it remains the seat of the Vernon family today (2008).

"Pride and Prejudice" (1995 - BBC TV mini series, as one of the interiors of Pemberley). “In a Land of Plenty" (1999 - BBC TV series, in which the kitchen was used). "Jane Eyre" (2006 - BBC TV mini series, as the red room at Gateshead Hall).