Kirkley Hall

Coordinates: 55°05′21″N 1°45′58″W / 55.0891°N 1.7660°W / 55.0891; -1.7660

Kirkley Hall is a 17th-century historic country mansion and Grade II listed building situated on the bank of the River Blyth at Kirkley, near Ponteland in the heart of the Northumberland countryside, which is now an Horticultural and Agricultural training centre.

History

The manor of Kirkley was granted to the de Eure family in 1267 and Sir William Eure was recorded as in occupation of a tower house there in 1415. In the early 17th century the manor came into the ownership of the Ogle family and in 1632 Cuthbert Ogle built a new manor house close to the site of the old house. A stone lintel preserved over a doorway in the present house bears this date, and the initials and arms of Cuthbert Ogle and his wife Dorothy Fenwick..

Substantial alterations were made to the structure in 1764 by Rev Newton Ogle (1726–1804), Dean of Winchester Cathedral, who also in 1788 erected an obelisk in the grounds commemorating the accession of William and Mary in 1689.

Kirkley

Coordinates: 52°27′36″N 1°44′13″E / 52.46°N 1.737°E / 52.46; 1.737

Kirkley is a district within the town of Lowestoft in the Waveney District of the English county of Suffolk. It is located south of the centre of Lowestoft and the town's Bascule Bridge and north of Pakefield and Kessingland. Kirkley was originally an independent village but after centuries of urban sprawl and development of the harbour area, is now part of the urban conurbation of Lowestoft. In council ward terms, it sits between the wards of Harbour and Pakefield.

History

Kirkley was briefly mentioned in the Domesday Book at which time it formed part of King William's estates and was held by Roger Bigot. The area is described as a village with a population of around 433 by Suckling in 1846, with its main industry being fishing.

The former parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St John Church. The church had fallen into disrepair by 1640, with restoration taking place at some point in the 18th Century.

In 1847, from his base at Somerleyton Hall, entrepreneur Samuel Morton Peto brought the railway to Lowestoft. A new resort was built by Peto in the then rural parish of Kirkley and along the south beach. Peto sponsored construction of St John's church on the corner of Belvedere Road for the inhabitants of the new town. This was by flooding and finally demolished in 1977.