An 1800 hand-colored engraving of the third House (demolished)
The fourth (current) House from an early 20th century postcard
Earlier Houses: The Neville family had a home (the first house) on the site in the 14th century. Circa 1663 this house was purchased by Sir Edmund Turnor, who began building a larger house (the second house) in 1665; this house was demolished in 1774 and replaced in 1794 by a smaller house (the third house), built for the Turnor family; it was this house that was replaced by the current house (the fourth house) in the 1840s.
Built / Designed For: Christopher Turnor (current house)
House & Family History: The huge, Jacobean style mid-19th century house built for Christopher Turnor was requisitioned by the War Office in 1940; during World War II it became the headquarters of the Second Battalion Parachute Regiment. It was in the Library at Stoke Rochford that the ill-fated 1944 Arnhem Drop was planned. In 1948 the House was purchased by Kesteven County Council from the War Office and reborn as Kesteven College of Education, a teacher training college that operated here until 1978. On January 25, 2005 a fire gutted the interior of the House; it was restored by English Heritage, which spent £12 million over a three-year period on the restoration. Stoke Rochford is today a hotel.
Garden & Outbuildings: The remains of a Roman villa and bath house were identified by William Stukeley on the Stoke Rochford Estate in 1739; no substantive ruins remain today. In 1924 a golf course was laid out by Christopher Turnor, which is home today of the Stoke Rochford Golf Club. The front elevation of the Elizabethan stables have been re-erected.
Architect: William Andrews Nesfield
Date: 1840sArchitect: William Burn
Date: 1841-43John Bernard (J.B.) Burke, published under the title of A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. I, p. 124, 1852.
Country Life: X, 592, 1901.
Title: Disintegration of a Heritage: Country Houses and their Collections, 1979-1992, The
Author: Sayer, Michael
Year Published: 1993
Publisher: Norfolk: Michael Russell (Publishing)
ISBN: 0859551970
Book Type: Hardback
House Listed: Grade I
Park Listed: Grade II
Past Seat / Home of: SEATED AT EARLIER HOUSES: Neville family, 14th-15th centuries. Rochford family, 15th-16th centuries. Coney family, 16th century until1663. Sir Edmund Turnor, 17th century. SEATED AT CURRENT HOUSE: Christopher Turnor, 19th century; Turnor family here until 1940. Harry Wyndham Jefferson, early 20th century (tenant).
Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust
Primary Current Ownership Use: Hotel
Ownership Details: The freehold is owned by the Turnor family, who lease the house to a hotel company.
House Open to Public: By Appointment
Phone: 01476-530-337
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.stokerochfordhall.co.uk
Historic Houses Member: No