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Hill Hall: A Singular House Devised by a Tudor Intellectual

by Paul Drury and Richard Simpson

This is the complete history of a building that began as a hunting lodge, late in the eleventh century and that grew to be the principal house of the manor of Theydon Mount in Essex, a small country retreat within easy reach of London. In 1556, the house was acquired by Sir Thomas Smith (1512-77), a man of humble origins but precocious intellect who became Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge at the age of thirty and Chancellor of the University two years later. He then forsook academic for political life, becoming Master of Requests to the Lord Protector Somerset.

From 1557, Smith rebuilt the house in French-influenced classical style and decorated it with wall paintings of Cupid and Psyche and King Hezekiah, conveying complex messages of morality and affinity as part of a coherent programme of images in paint, glass and tiles.

Four centuries on, the house was first used as an open prison, then, in 1969, largely gutted by fire and finally, in 1980, taken into the care of the Department of the Environment. Archaeological excavation and detailed recording of the surviving fabric took place prior to the restoration of the house and its mural paintings, the results of which are now presented in this copiously illustrated account of one of the most important and influential houses to be built in Elizabethan England. 544p, 378 illus (Society of Antiquaries of London 2009)

Review Quotes

"Handsomely produced and extraordinarily reasonably priced volumes... They tell the reader as much as anyone could ever want to know about the history of the house, its peculiar features, its various incarnations (with elaborate plans), and the course of its restoration."

Andrew Hadfield
Times Literary Supplement (November 6 2009)

"Anyone interested in the building trades of the Elizabethan and later periods or the social ambitions and domestic life of the wealthy will learn a great deal from these two volumes whose texts and illustrations and ground plans manage to make matters abundantly clear even to the non-expert."

Leonard R.N. Ashley
Bibliothéque d'Humanisme et Renaissance (2011)

"This book is valuable not simply for its account of the architecture and wall paintings. It is a quarry of information on a wide range of subjects, notably building materials and techniques, and also artefacts. The decorative programme included stained glass and Dutch decorative tiles. There are observations on the wider settlement pattern, and the development of the Tudor and later landscape and gardens."

David Andrews
London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (2011)

"What a book it is! - two volumes, lavishly illustrated, and bound in an attractive case..replete with illustrations, maps, and photographs of the house from many eras."

Stephanie Hopkins Hughes
The De Vere Society Newsletter vol 17, no. 1 (2010)

"This sumptuous two-volume boxed account presents a meticulous record of the archaeological excavations and building recording of the fire-damaged mansion."

Harriet Devlin
The Historic Record: Policy and Practice, vol 1, No. 1 (2010)

"It is clear that Hill Hall: a Singular House Devised by a Tudor Intellectual succeeds in depicting the richness, innovation and individuality of Sir Thomas Smith's house, putting it within its national and European context. This publication makes a useful and highly interesting contribution to the literature of both the archaeology and architectural history of 16th-century England, whilst documenting the happy ending of a story that so easily could have concluded with the loss of yet another important country house."

Lucy Jessop
Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol 163 (2010)

"... magisterial... the authors and others associated with the Hill Hall publication deserve huge credit for marshalling such a massive range of material and for greatly enhancing our understanding of this important house."

John Cattell
Vernacular Architecture, vol 41 (2010)

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