Christchurch Mansion

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Christchurch Mansion is a stately home on the edge of the city centre of Ipswich, Suffolk, England, now owned by the city and housing a museum.

The house is surrounded by Christchurch Park, a grand landscaped park featuring many beautiful trees (235 of which were destroyed in the gale force storms of October 1987), rolling lawns and duck pond. The park is around 70 acres (280,000 m²) in size. The mansion itself houses a collection of pottery and glass, a contemporary art gallery and a collection of paintings by artists including John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. There are rooms preserved as past inhabitants would have known them, complete with original items of fine clothing. The mansion is a Grade I listed building^[1].

Contents 1 History of Christchurch Mansion 2 Notes 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History of Christchurch Mansion

Christchurch Park was originally the grounds of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, with an area of many square miles, coming up to the medieval city walls. During Henry VIIIs dissolution of the monasteries, the monastery was dissolved and the land was purchased by Sir Edmund Withipoll, who built the mansion in 1548-50, the ground floor of which which remains largely as he left it. His granddaughter Elizabeth Withipoll married Leicester Devereux, 6th Viscount Hereford and the mansion passed to the Devereux family, who rebuilt the upper floors after a fire in about 1670, when the main porch was also added.^[2] In 1734, Claude Fonnereau purchased the mansion from Price Devereux, 10th Viscount Hereford. A road next to the park is named after the family.

The next owner of the mansion was Felix Cobbold in 1892, after plans were made public about the demolition of the mansion and using the parkland for housing construction. Cobbold opposed these plans, and said to the Corporation of Ipswich that if he purchased the mansion, and they bought the surrounding parkland it would be donated to the people of Ipswich. It took Cobbold three attempts to get the corporation to agree to this, but in February 1895 the mansion was transferred to the town and in April 1895 the corporation purchased the rest of the estate. Felix Cobbold, among other members of his wealthy family have donated a great deal of land to the people of Ipswich, including Ipswich Racecourse.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Christchurch Mansion

• Map sources for Christchurch Mansion
• http://www.localhistories.org/ipswich.html
• http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/suffolk/Christchurch_Mansion.htm
• Christchurch Park history at Ipswich Council website

Coordinates: 52°03′38″N 1°09′29″E / 52.060526°N 1.158126°E / 52.060526; 1.158126

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