Elveden Hall is a large stately home on the Elveden Estate inElveden,Suffolk, England. The seat of the Earls of Iveagh, it is a Grade II*listed building. Located centrally to the village, it is close to the A11 and the Parish Church. As of 2026, it is owned bythe 4th Earl of Iveagh.
The date of the original house's construction is unknown but the estate is known to have been anciently appropriated byBury St Edmunds Abbey. After thedissolution of the monasteries it was given byHenry VIII to theDuke of Norfolk. It subsequently passed through the ownerships of the Crisp and Tyrell families. The Georgian house at the core of the present house is thought to have been built c. 1760.[1] In 1768 the estate was purchased by AdmiralAugustus Keppel.[2] He died withoutissue in 1796 and it passed to his nephew, theEarl of Albemarle,[3] who sold it to MPWilliam Newton in 1813.
In 1849, theMaharajahDuleep Singh, the last true ruler of theSikh Empire and owner of the famousKoh-i-Noor diamond was exiled to England, having been removed from his kingdom by theBritish East India Company.
The Maharajah purchased the 17,000-acre (69 km2) Elveden Estate in 1863 and set about rebuilding the country house and dressing it in anItalian style. However, he redesigned the interior to resemble theMughal palaces that he had been accustomed to in his childhood. He also augmented the building with anaviary where exotic birds such asgolden pheasant, Icelandicgyrfalcons,parrots,peafowl andbuzzards were kept. His architect wasJohn Norton, theGothic Revival specialist who also redesignedTyntesfield. He lived under the watchful eye of theIndia Office at the estate with his family, wifeBamba Müller and their children who includedSophia Duleep Singh andCatherine Hilda Duleep Singh (who later became suffragettes),Bamba Duleep Singh andFrederick Duleep Singh.[4]
Elveden Hall played host to a wide range of sporting activities but none rivalled the Maharajah's passion for shooting. His shooting parties were popular amongst aristocracy includingPrince George, Duke of Cambridge.
After seasons of poor farming in the 1870s, a downturn in the Maharajah's personal fortunes and political tensions in government, the Maharajah left Elveden and England in 1886.
The1st Earl of Iveagh, of the Guinness brewing family, purchased the Elveden Estate in 1894 from the executors of the will of the Maharajah Duleep Singh following his death in 1893.
The Hall was used during theSecond World War as a headquarters for theUSAAF, during which time the staff quarters were struck and destroyed by a bomb. By the 1980s, the Guinness family were living elsewhere on the estate, and the Hall occupied by caretakers. Its entire contents, including elaborate items owned by the Maharajah, were auctioned atChristie's in May 1984.
The Elveden Estate continues to be one of the country's largest farms. In 2000, in possibly the biggest case of fly-tipping in British history, over one million tyres and a thousand tonnes of shredded rubber were dumped on its land, the removal of which cost several hundred thousand pounds.[5]
Owners of Elveden Hall and its estate since 1894 have been:
Theheir apparent is the present holder's son Arthur Benjamin Geoffrey Guinness, Viscount Elveden (b. 2003)[citation needed]
Elveden Hall's unique and impressive architecture and surrounding landscapes have been used for filming on a number of occasions. These films include:
52°23′07″N0°40′47″E / 52.3852°N 0.6797°E /52.3852; 0.6797