Euston Hall

Euston Hall is a country house in a small Suffolk village just south of Thetford. The present house stands on the site of a manor first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Elizabeth I stayed here in 1578 while travelling to Norwich. The estate was bought in 1666 by Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, who built a grand French-style house around a central court. Charles II visited in 1671 with John Evelyn and a large court. The house passed to his illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy, later the first Duke of Grafton. The art collection includes a Canaletto of Westminster Bridge, painted after the second Duke of Grafton promoted its construction. A disastrous fire in 1902 destroyed the south and west wings, which were rebuilt. In 1952 the 10th Duke demolished the south wing and most of the west wing. The house remains the family home of the Dukes of Grafton. The park was shaped by John Evelyn, William Kent and Capability Brown. Kent’s temple and entrance archway still stand beside Broadwater, the large lake created by Brown. The watermill, rebuilt by Kent in the 1730s to look like a church, still draws water from the River Blackbourne. Visitors walk the avenues and rides laid out three centuries ago. The pleasure grounds and park cover about 175 acres of gently rolling Suffolk countryside.