#linenfold

The corridor on the first floor of Stan Hywet Hall is lined with ‘linenfold paneling.” I first heard that term as a teenager visiting this house and never forgot it as I saw similar paneling in many old homes and castles in Europe.

The early 20th century existence of competing telephone companies is interesting to note for those of us who grew up with the Bell Telephone (AT&T) monopoly. 

Sutton House

This Tudor house is neither located in Sutton, nor was it ever, as was once believed, occupied by Thomas Sutton, the founder of the Charterhouse School. Its original name, Bryck Place, was far more appropriate, given that at them time of its construction in 1535, it was the only brick-built house in the village of Homerton. It was first home to Sir Ralph Sadler, Henry VIII’s Principal Secretary of State, before being variously occupied by a sheriff, a silk merchant, a girl’s school, and Huguenot weavers. Divided into two in the mid-18th Century, it was reunited in 1895 to become the St John’s Church Institute – though apparently the activities of this group were more social than religious.

Bought by the National Trust in 1938, it soon put to use as a centre for Fire Wardens in the Second World War. In the 1960s, it was leased to the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs Union, who left in the early 1980s, at which point Sutton House fell into disrepair. Squatters moved in, renaming it the Blue House, using it as a music venue and social centre. Following their eviction, there was talk of selling the house to developers, but the work of the Save Sutton House Campaign prevented this, and eventually allowed the house to be renovated and opened to the public in 1994.

Sutton House is now a museum to itself, showcasing the marks left on it by its many residents. Much of it remains distinctly Tudor, including a rudimentary kitchen, the grand Great Chamber, and the impressive parlour, lined with over 200 panels of hand-carved oak, designed to mimic folding linen. The Painted Staircase, from the 17th Century, is so called due to remarkable depictions in Trompe-l'oeil style (a technique that create an optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in 3D). 

The journey through time continues with a smaller Georgian parlour, a Victorian Study (to the side of which is an original garderobe, believed to have been used by Henry VIII to complete his royal duties…), and a rarely-used chapel from the days of the social club. At the very top of the house, a squatter’s mural has been left intact, with their bedroom recreated around it.

Outside, whilst much of the original garden from the estate is gone, what remains has been transformed into the Breaker’s Yard, a contemporary garden that features a caravan whose interior resembles a mansion house, a bus that has become a potting shed, and iron gates onto which model vehicles have been bolted…

A RARE LATE MEDIEVAL OAK LINENFOLD AUMBRY OF SMALL PROPORTIONS. CIRCA 1480-1500.