NHER 55942 (Building record) - The Octagon, Hunstanton Hall

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Summary

This carstone garden building dates from around 1640. It is surrounded by a moat, and has also been interpreted as a banqueting house.

Protected Status/Designation

Location

Map sheet TF64SE
Civil Parish OLD HUNSTANTON, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Map

Previously recorded under NHER 1117.

Garden building built around 1640 for Sir Hamon Le Strange. possibly by William Edge, stonemason, then engaged by Sir Roger Townshend at Raynham Hall. Squared, coursed carstone with galletting, cut stone details moulded and rubble brick, 20th century flat roof in temporary materials. Octagonal on plan, single storey with a classical frontispiece. Cut stone frontispiece entrance occupying a whole bay with stone plinth, smooth drafted rustication above.
Information from (S1).

March 1981. Site visit.
Semi-derelict, but ceiling intact. Known as the Music Room.
E. Rose (NAU).

October 1991. Site visit.
Moat around Octagon is dry and under derelict woodland. The building has been vandalised but has since been restored.
H. Paterson (NLA), October 1991.

(S2) suggests this is a banqueting house of around 1655.
See also (S3).
E. Rose, 1 February 2003.

  • --- Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. TF6941/AD - AQ; TF6842/G.
  • --- Aerial Photograph: TF6941 A,B,G-L (AAF), M,Q,S,Z-AC (Unit).
  • --- Drawing: Various. Various. Architectural plans.
  • --- Monograph: Pevsner, N and Wilson, B. 1999. Norfolk 2: North-West and South. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. p 440.
  • --- Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1993-1997. [Articles about the Octagon at Hunstanton Hall].
  • --- Photograph: [anonymous]. 2017. Photographs of The Octagon, Hunstanton Hall.. Norfolk County Council Conservation Team. Digital. jpeg.
  • --- Photograph: [Unknown]. [unknown]. Photographs of The Octagon, Hunstanton Hall.. Norfolk County Council Conservation Team. film. black and white print.
  • --- Photograph: BDE18,SC(2)1-2.
  • --- Secondary File: Secondary File.
  • --- Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1967. OS/67069 093-4 26-APR-1967.
  • <S1> Designation: Historic England. National Heritage List for England.
  • <S2> Monograph: Williamson, T. 1998. Archaeology of the Landscape Park: Garden Design in Norfolk, England, c. 1680-1840. BAR (British Series). Vol 268. p 252.
  • <S3> Unpublished Document: Rose, E.. 2003. Building Report. Hunstanton Hall.. Building Report. February.

Object Types (0)

Record last edited

Aug 12 2025 8:48AM

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