Earlham Hall is acountry house inNorfolk,England. It is located just to the west of the city ofNorwich,[1] onEarlham Road, on the outskirts of the village of Earlham. For generations it was the home of theGurney family. The Gurneys were known as bankers and social activists; prison reformerElizabeth Fry grew up at Earlham Hall. When theUniversity of East Anglia was founded in 1963, the building became its administrative centre, and it now serves as the law school.
Earlham Hall was built in 1642 by Robert Houghton.[1] By the eighteenth century it was occupied byNockold Tompson, a brewer who wasMayor of Norwich in 1759–60. When he farmed at Earlham Hall his crop-yield experiments were praised byArthur Young in hisFarmer's Calendar of 1771.[2] Also in the eighteenth century it was in the ownership of the Bacon family;Edward Bacon M.P. built a "handsome, long, and lofty" dining room.[3] He died in 1786 and ownership descended to a Mr Bacon Frank ofCampsall, now inEast Yorkshire. At this juncture the house was rented to theGurney family, an arrangement which persisted for well over a century, "perhaps one of the oldest tenancies known for a mansion of the size, though very frequent In the case of farmhouses".[3]
The Gurneys were influential and wealthyQuakers who establishedthe bank bearing their name in 1770. (The family became sufficiently well known to be mentioned inGilbert and Sullivan's 1875comic operaTrial by Jury: a character describes his accumulation of wealth until "at length I became as rich as the Gurneys".[4] Gurney's Bank merged intoBarclays in 1896.)
Earlham Hall was the home ofJohn Gurney (1749-1809) and his wife Catherine Bell (1755–1794). They had 13 children, including the bankersSamuel Gurney andDaniel Gurney, thesocial reformersElizabeth Fry andJoseph John Gurney, andLouisa Hoare, the writer on education. Another sister, Hannah, marriedSir Fowell Buxton, MP, brewer, and abolitionist.[5]
The Gurneys welcomed visitors and friends at Earlham Hall includingAnna Laetitia Barbauld,Amelia Opie - an intimate friend of the family - andSusannah Taylor, all three beingBluestockings.[6][7][8][9]
George Borrow (1803-1881), author and traveller, used as a boy to fish theRiver Yare near Earlham Hall. On one occasion he was caught by Joseph John Gurney, who later invited the boy to his home to see his books.[1] In his autobiographical novelLavengro Borrow recalls Earlham Hall;
On the right side is a green level, a smiling meadow, grass of the richest decks the side of the slope; mighty trees also adorn it, giant elms, the nearest of which, when the sun is nigh its meridian, fling a broad shadow upon the face of the ancient brick of an old English Hall. It has a stately look, that old building, indistinctly seen, as it is, among the umbrageous trees.[1]
Percy Lubbock (1879-1965), art critic and biographer, was associated with Earlham Hall. He was the son of the merchant banker Frederic Lubbock and his wife Catherine, daughter of John Gurney (1809–1856).[1] Lubbock spent his childhood summer holidays at his mother's family home; his memoirEarlham (1922) won theJames Tait Black Memorial Prize.
The Hall was used as council and nurses accommodation before the war, and provided maternity beds when bombs smashed Norwich's maternity home in June 1942. It also housed a school while the council built new accommodation in West Earlham.[10]
In October 1963, Earlham Hall and its gardens became the home of the newly openedUniversity of East Anglia. The Vice-Chancellor and administration were based in Earlham Hall.[11] It later housed the Norwich Law School. Following major refurbishment and restoration (at a cost of around £8 million[12]), theLaw School returned to Earlham Hall in March 2014 after four years being located in the Blackdale building.
In May 2015, the grounds of Earlham Hall were used as a backstage area for artists performing atRadio 1's Big Weekend at Earlham Park. TheUniversity of East Anglia communications team used part of the Hall, andTaylor Swift, among others, used another part as a dressing room before performing.[13]
...Earlham Hall, the birthplace of the Gurneys... where we sometimes hear of Mrs Taylor visiting Earlham Hall on a summer afternoon...Mrs Taylor speaks of visiting at Holkham and hopes they [her and her husband and other friends] may enjoy themselves...
1786: [Opie] writes Adelaide, a 5-act play; wide social circle includes the radical Mrs. John Taylor, as well as literary figures Dr. Aiken and his sister, Anna Letitia Barbauld, and the Quaker Gurney family, including John Joseph, who was to become an important figure later in the 19th century, and Elizabeth, who after her marriage to Joseph Fry became a leading advocate for prison reform; meets Sarah Siddons, the actress, in Norwich (September)
52°37′32″N1°14′12″E / 52.6255°N 1.2366°E /52.6255; 1.2366