Sunday, February 28, 2016

Rainham Hall

Rainham Hall is a relatively small National Trust property in East London. It was built in 1729 for Captain John Harle and at the time it's location must have been quite rural. It is an example of the domestic Queen Anne style and is an attractive property.  Harle's son died young and since then it has had approximately 50 owners!

The trust acquired the property in 1949 and until October 2015 it was let to a succession of tenants. In October 2015 it was opened to the public. There is no original contents so it is presented as exhibition to the times of the first owner John Harle. The idea is that the exhibition will change in the future to reflect the life and times of other owner/occupants.

In 1729 the hall would have had a lovely rural location alas modern Rainham is heavily built up and the area is no longer a rural haven......... still the house is attractive.

Oh and this was my first visit!


A hall and a church how rural :)


Really good model. It shows that the rooms are surprisingly small!






The will of John Harle



The type of wedding dress his wife would have worn. At the time white wasn't common for weddings.





Indoor duck pond





These are things found in the house.




This map shows the Thames in Harle's time.


And this the British Empire



This was the Georgian Kitchen I believe. Today kitted out as a Georgian coffee house.



The garden.








The scone was rather nice!



It will be interesting how the house and garden evolves over the years.

3 comments:

Ragged Robin said...

Looks another nice NT property Pete and great photos. I see Quacks made himself at home :)

The Quacks of Life said...

Thanks All

RR - he always does!

Nora - alas not much of an estate at Rainham and it's a yucky area but a lovely old building!

Tricia Ryder said...

Was good to see it... and ta for the guided tour of surrounding area!!

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