NHER 10639 (Monument record) - Site of Broome Hall

July 1976.
Fragments of brick from hall? Found in ground disturbed by animals.
Whole moated site grassed. Moat with water.
Grassed earthworks - formal garden? To south.
A. J. Lawson (NAU) 1 July 1976.

The Ordnance Survey mark the site of the hall to the east of the ponds.
(S1) says a scatter of building material here, and that the 'moat' is only catchment ponds.
However a moat is mentioned by (S2), as one of the ponds that emptied themselves before the Lisbon earthquake.
The hall was built around 1600 with crowstep gables, pedimented windows.
Later in 17th century rebuilt with Dutch gables.
Demolished 1825.
See (S2).
(S3) in British Museum.

May 1981.
Small square cropmark where (S1) marks hall site. Earthworks of ?gardens may now be destroyed.
E. Rose (NAU) 18 May 1981.

See file for air photograph references and (S4), a rough sketch plan of site.
Until 1945 or later, Redhouse Farm stood on or adjacent to the site, perhaps accounting for some of the more recent details. The building consisted of a 'barn with living quarters to each side'. Moat was then stocked with carp.
Name Redhouse Farm now transferred to farm to north east. Information from former occupant (source) to Joy Lodey (NLA), November 1995.
E. Rose (NLA) 29 November 1995.

2 July 1996. NLA aerial photography.
Previously identified earthworks now only visible as cropmarks.
Layout suggests an entrance road leading from the church, defined by ditches either side, although it may have been raised also, as slight parching suggests either a bank or compacted surface.
Roughly perpendicular to this approach road, on both sides, are linear features and rectilinear enclosures which would have related to the garden layout.
S. Massey (NLA) 26 July 2001.

November 2000.
Moats very broad. To south approximately 80 metres long to west approximately 100 metres long. Water filled. Farm manager states strong parchmarks noted to east in field. Partly cleaned out to bottom some years ago.
H. Paterson (A&E) 17 January 2001.

July 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Earthworks and cropmarks relating to the site of Broome Hall are visible on aerial photographs (S5-S11). These features are centred on TM 3460 9333. Roughly parallel north to south aligned banks and ditches are visible crossing the site from TM 3462 9320 to TM 3459 9346. They continue the boundaries of a broad trackway or carriage drive that approached the site from Rectory Road to the south. This measured up to 25m wide and is marked on the 1840 Broome tithe map (S12). It is possibly the ‘avenue of cedars’ referred to in (S2). Although the track from the road survives, it only retains its full width along the section immediately to the west of the church. Further banks and ditches are present on either side of the driveway creating small enclosures. These have previously been interpreted as gardens associated with the hall but it is difficult to be certain of their function from the available evidence. As they are located alongside the main approach to the hall they are more likely to be gardens than domestic yards and paddocks. Some of the earthwork and cropmark features could relate to the post medieval farm that stood at the western edge of the site until the mid 20th century. In the northern part of the group are two extant ponds, which are interpreted as part of a moat that surrounded the hall. It is possible that these ponds did form a moat, although they could have been fishponds. They were shown with their present plan on the 1840 tithe map (S12), but the L-shaped pond appears much narrower on the 1940s aerial photographs (S5-S6). An incomplete rectilinear enclosure cropmark is present within the area of the ponds. It lies on a northwest to southeast axis and measures 44m by 18m. It is not clear whether this enclosure relates to the plan of the hall or another undated feature. Cropmarks of fields that were probably related to the hall are present to the north of this site (NHER 44847).

The driveway appears to overlay an F-shaped ditch cropmark represent part of two adjoining rectilinear enclosures. These enclosures are incomplete but measure at least 23m by 15m and 32m by 19m. It is likely that they are of an earlier date than the hall, which was built around 1600, but their actual date and function is unknown.
J. Albone (NMP) 13 July 2006.

August 2009
The print (S3) in the British Museum is actually of Brome Hall in Suffolk (S13).
British Museum reference no 1907,0930.4
David Gurney (NLA), 12 August 2009.