Sutton House
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Sutton House is a Tudor manor house in Homerton High Street, Hackney, London, England. It is owned by the National Trust.
Originally known as 'Bryck Place', Sutton House was built in 1535 by Sir Ralph Sadleir and is the oldest residential building in Hackney. It is a rare example of a red brick building from the Tudor period. Sutton House became home to successive merchants, sea captains, Huguenot silk-weavers, Victorian schoolmistresses and Edwardian clergy. The frontage was modified in the Georgian period, but the heart and core remain an essentially Tudor building. Oak panelled rooms, including a rare 'linen fold' room, Tudor windows and carved fireplaces survive intact and an exhibition tells the history of the house and its former occupants.
The name is a misattribution to Thomas Sutton, founder of Charterhouse School, who was another famous Hackney resident in the adjacent Tan House. This residence was demolished in 1806 to allow for the extension of Sutton Place, an elegant terrace of 16 Georgian Houses (Grade II listed).
Sutton House was bought by the National Trust in the 1930s with the proceeds of a bequest. During World War II it was used as a Fire Warden Centre, and wardens watched from the roof for fires. From the 1960's it was tenanted by the ASTMS Union, led by its charismatic general secretary Clive Jenkins. When the union left in the early 1980s, the house fell into disrepair; but was rescued by an active local campaign by the Sutton House Society and renovations were completed in 1991. The building remains in use as a museum, as well as a cafe, an art gallery and gift shop. There is an active schools education programme at the house, together with other community programmes. Sutton House was shortlisted for the 2004 Gulbenkian Prize. It is registered for the conduct of marriages.
The closest station is Hackney Central station on the North London Line.
[edit] Trivia
- Sutton House was used for filming exteriors and interiors for a two-part TV adaptation of the Terry Prachett novel Hogfather (TV series). It will be shown on Sky One over Xmas 2006.
- The interior of the house often appears as a backdrop to 'historical documentaries'.
- Opposite the house a graffito suggesting amnesty for the miners (a relic of the 1984–1985 miners' strike) was still just visible in May 2006.
- The pedestrian route from Hackney Central passes St Augustine's Tower Hackney, a remnant of Hackney's Tudor Parish church.
- Bromley Hall, a much modified, but slightly older house of the Tudor period, survives in East London, it is sited on the Blackwall Tunnel approach road. It is not open to the public.
