Cockfield Hall
Cockfield Hall in Yoxford in Suffolk, England is a Grade I listed private house standing in of historic parkland, dating from the 16th century. It is not to be confused with the village of Cockfield, near Lavenham in Suffolk. Cockfield Hall takes its name from the Cokefeud Family, established there at the beginning of the 14th century.
The hall and estate were purchased from Sir John Fastolf by John Hopton, who in c. 1430 somewhat unexpectedly inherited various estates including that of Westwood, near Walberswick in Suffolk, where he made his home. He also acquired the estate of Easton Bavents, a coastal place north of Southwold which has now disappeared into the sea, by purchase from the widow of Sir Robert Shardlow. His great-grandson Sir Arthur Hopton, who accompanied Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. is thought to have been the builder of Cockfield Hall in its Tudor brick form, including the part now forming the north wing, and the Gatehouse. This work may date to around 1520, since Sir Arthur was still principally resident in Blythburgh in 1524. Sir Arthur's son and successor, Sir Owen Hopton, as Lieutenant of the Tower of London was ordered in October 1567 by Queen Elizabeth to take into custody at Cockfield so that she could recover from her privations, Lady Catherine Grey, sister of Lady Jane Grey and granddaughter of Mary Tudor. She died there a year later and was buried in the Cockfield Chapel in Yoxford Church.
The estate was subsequently sold to the Brooke family. When Lady Brooke died in 1683, it passed to her daughter Martha's son, Sir Charles Blois, 1st Baronet, who came to live at Cockfield in 1686. From then, the house remained in the ownership of the Blois family until 1997. The main part of the house had sash windows installed in the 18th century and in 1896 the Victorian Great Hall was created on the site of the original Tudor Hall in the Jacobean style.
The house is now part of Wilderness Reserve.
