Summary
A landscape park and garden laid out following designs by Humphry Repton in 1791 and incorporating earlier features dating from before 1768.
Reasons for Designation
Broke Hall Park, a landscape park and garden laid out following designs by Humphry Repton in 1791 and incorporating earlier features dating from before 1768, is registered at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historic interest:
* for the site’s association with Admiral Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke, incorporating parts of the HMS Shannon in the gates of the walled garden;
* for the survival of the pre-1768 landscape features, notably the two avenues to the west and south of the house, and the extent of the park and garden itself.
Design interest:
* as a largely intact late-C18 landscape design developed by Humphry Repton, complete with his original Red Book.
Group value:
* for the designed relationship between the Grade II* listed Hall and the landscape;
* for the presence of the Grade II listed Shannon Gates and Crinkle-Crankle Wall as part of the historic walled garden.
History
Before the layout out of the park at Broke Hall there was an earlier medieval estate in the same location named Cow Hall, or Cowhaugh, held by the manor of Nacton. It was owned by the Holbroke and then the Fastolf families. In 1514 George Fastolf transferred the hall to his father-in-law, Richard Broke (d.1529). Broke was later knighted and, in 1526, became Chief Baron of the Exchequer. In the same year he rebuilt Cow Hall, which would later become known as Broke Hall.
In 1743 Admiral Vernon bought part of the estate from Philip Broke (d.1762) and created the neighbouring country house at Orwell Park. Philip Bowes Broke inherited Broke Hall in 1762 and was obliged to lease it for several years in settlement of his debts. Under his ownership an inventory of Broke Hall included ‘pleasure garden and walks’, and a 1768 estate map depicted a tree-lined avenue with 68 acres of parkland and a 186 acre Home Farm. The hall was rebuilt by Richard Norris in 1773-5 and a small park and fishpond was shown on Hodskinson’s map of 1783.
The landscape designer Humphry Repton visited Broke Hall in November 1791. Repton had been a school friend of Philip Bowes Broke and his work at Broke Hall was amongst his earliest in the county. He sent his designs for improvements to the landscape in a Red Book in 1792 around the same time that James Wyatt was remodelling the house. Though Philip Bowes Broke died in 1801, maps from 1803 and 1818 indicate that Repton’s designs continued to be implemented. The estate passed to Admiral Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke (d.1841). Sir Philip was a naval hero of exceptional standing, he commanded the HMS Shannon in the War of 1812 and secured a famous victory over the US frigate Chesapeake, described in the ODNB as the ‘finest single ship action in the history of naval warfare under sail’. When the Shannon was finally broken up in 1859 the ship’s timbers were recycled to produce an elaborate gateway gifted to Sir George Nathaniel Broke-Middleton. The Shannon Gates were originally placed at the end of a yew walk to the east of the walled garden but were eventually relocated on the walled garden’s northern crinkle-crankle wall.
By the end of the C19 the hall had passed by marriage into the de Saumarez family of Shrubland Hall, and was occupied infrequently as a shooting estate until 1919 when Broke Hall once again became the family home.
In 1926, around 2285 acres were sold from the Broke Hall estate and the de Saumarez family returned to Shrubland with Broke Hall boarded up. It was sold into private hands in the 1930s and used by the Royal Fusiliers in the Second World War. The estate changed ownership several times in the post-war period and was further subdivided. Since 1987 the hall itself has been divided into residential flats and the ancillary buildings have also been converted to residential accommodation. Some new houses have been built within the former park and gardens.
Humphry Repton (1752-1818) was born in Bury St Edmunds and spent the early part of his career in East Anglia; he had 12 commissions in Suffolk between 1789 and 1791. He has become known as one of the most influential figures in English landscape design, even coining the term ‘landscape designer’ to describe his work. He is associated with a departure from the uncompromising naturalistic style of an earlier generation of designers and the introduction of domestic pleasure grounds that were designed to suit the practical enjoyment of a garden. He was a consultant rather than a contractor and submitted his designs for owners to implement at their leisure, usually in a ‘Red Book’.
Details
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, AND SETTING
Broke Hall lies in the parish of Nacton, directly against the north shore of the Orwell estuary where riverside meadowland and clifftop walks form the major natural boundary of the site. To the east it borders Shore Lane and Orwell Park, to the north is Broke Hall Woods and the Levington Road, and to the west the plantations at Home Wood and the Oaks border farmland that falls towards Levington Creek. The core of the estate around the hall itself stands in low ground with gradual hills to the north and south.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
The principal point of access is via Church Road, which turns and winds a short way past an entrance lodge and through a plantation of trees. Repton introduced these plantations and the turn in the approach so that the arrival into the Broke Hall landscape would feel as though emerging from a dense woodland, even without a great deal of additional trees. It also screens views of Orwell Park from within Broke Hall.
Between the entrance and the hall itself is a double avenue of lime trees (some other species are present, and in some parts only single trees are present). The avenue predates Repton and was already established by 1768.
A second avenue runs south from the house to the shore of the Orwell. It is less well defined than the western avenue but forms a significant point of access between the house and the river. This southern avenue existed as a single line of trees in 1768 and was retained by Repton. By the mid-C19 it had been established as a distinct avenue. Historically it connected to a landing stage which is now only discernible as a line of rubble in the estuary and a post close to low water. The avenue was formerly known as Bath House Avenue after a small building known as ‘the bath’ which once stood at the riverside.
A secondary approach to Broke Hall runs north of the west avenue and connects the principal entrance to the service quarters of the house. This route is paved for vehicles and skirts the southern perimeter of Broke Hall Woods.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING
Broke Hall stands on the site of a Tudor house of the same name (also called Cow Hall). It was rebuilt in 1773-5 by Richard Norris and remodelled by James Wyatt in 1791-2. Wyatt’s work has created the house largely as we see it today (2023) with Gothick battlements, large bay windows, and heightened emphasis over the central bays on the front and rear elevations, though the porch was replaced in 1926. Repton’s work at Broke Hall coincided with that of Wyatt and his retention of the formal avenue played with the same impression of a Gothic past that Wyatt sought to create.
Repton was concerned to frame views from the house so that they concealed the buildings at Orwell Park and the hamlet of Levington but connected the viewer to the wider countryside and parkland beyond the boundaries of Broke Hall. To the south, the Orwell functions as a water feature in views from the house, with low planting intended to serve as a screen of the estuary mud at low tide. These views remain largely in place.
PLEASURE GROUNDS
To the east and west of the house the parkland was separated by ha-has. A pair of ha-has flank the termination of the eastern avenue close to the house; they replaced an earlier fence seen in an early-C19 engraving. They are formed of un-frogged Suffolk white bricks laid in Monk bond. The ha-ha to the west of the house does not have a brick wall and may more accurately be described as a boundary ditch, dividing the terrace from the parkland.
The western terrace connects the house to a hill on the south side, sometimes referred to historically as Coney Hill, at the top of which is an early C21 summer house. Coney Hill adjoins Home Wood where there were historically several meandering walks. These walks are now largely indiscernible, except where they were integrated into the Suffolk Coast Path along the banks of the Orwell.
OTHER BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES
At the western gateway into the estate is a large two-storey lodge house. It was designed by RM Phipson in around 1859. It is built of Suffolk white bricks with red brick dressings and features steeply pitched roofs, tall clustered chimneys, and elaborately carved barge boards. In around 1987 the house was extended with a low glass link structure attached to a two-storey wing and a two-storey garage block was constructed within the grounds of the lodge.
Grouped around Broke Hall itself are a number of residential buildings created from the pre-existing ancillary parts of the estate (such as the stables, walled gardens, and orangery), as well as some newly constructed buildings (1987 and later) such as Linden House (constructed on the site of a former pond), Orchard Meadow House, Butterman’s, and a group of domestic garages.
Between 1930 and 1950 a pair of houses called East Lodge Cottages were constructed on the northern boundary of the park.
Within the parkland to the west of the house is wide cast-iron footbridge of early C19 date. It is missing its deck (2023) but retains its iron structural elements, railings and finials.
THE PARK
To the west and east of Broke Hall there are large areas of parkland.
The west park is divided by the double-avenue that leads to the house. North of the avenue the park is bordered by Broke Hall Woods. The woods contain an historic bridleway connecting the churches of Nacton and Levington. Close to the house the parkland meets the former service areas and the location of the former pond; Linden House now stands in place of the pond, with Orchard Meadow House alongside it. On the south side of the avenue is an area historically referred to as Walk Meadow, a wide area of meadow parkland with some scattered trees which runs down to the Suffolk Coast Path and the shores of the Orwell. Repton hoped to introduce some planting to screen the estuary's tidal mudflats whilst leaving 'the channel beyond at all times open to view'. Recent tree planting has reduced the view of the river from the hall.
The east park is divided by a river marked historically as The Cut, which runs from Broke Hall Woods to the park boundary out towards Levington Creek. On the north side the land rises towards the Levington Road. Around the upper part of this hill, sometimes called Badger Hill, is a copse of trees (broad-leafed trees and lower shrubs are ringed by Scots pine and gorse) within which is a pit or former quarry. A small plantation at the north-east corner contains the ruins of a former dairy. Between the copse and the former dairy there are views towards the house and Freston Tower (Grade II*) in one direction, and out towards Felixstowe Docks in another. South of The Cut the parkland runs up to a ditch at the east of the house, and borders Home Wood on the south side. The Cut itself was inundated in around 2013 by a tidal surge that overwhelmed the coastal defences; the formerly straight channel of fresh water has been broadened out to form a saltwater reed bed.
WALLED GARDEN
Repton’s 1791 plan for Broke Hall shows a kitchen garden in the same location as the present walled garden. It was built by 1838 when it was shown on the Tithe map for the parish of Nacton. It adjoins the former stables and gardener’s cottage and historically had a long row of glasshouses on its north-western side. It has corners at the compass points creating a kite-shaped appearance on a plan. On the south-western wall a C21 orangery or conservatory has been constructed.
The north-east wall is of crinkle-crankle, or serpentine, construction. Walls of this kind were built to reduce the cost of materials (they can be only a single brick thick without the need for structural support) and to provide sheltered sunny hollows for the planting of fruit trees. They are particularly associated with Suffolk and are nationally rare. The wall was altered close to the north corner of the garden when the Shannon Gates were moved. The Gates are built of oak reputedly salvaged from the HMS Shannon in 1859. They comprise two large carriage gates flanked by smaller pedestrian gates with four gate posts of corresponding size. The larger gates have upper panels of scrolling neo-Jacobean fretwork.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 4 April 2024 to amend details in the description
