Theydon Mount and Hill Hall (Part 2)

Part II

In 1909 the Hill Hall estate was let to a Mr and Mrs Charles Hunter who entertained lavishly and had many artistic friends such as the portrait painter, Sir John Sargent¹. It was Sargent, who for a bet, painted at least one of the pillars in the Great Hall. These appear to be marble but are actually plaster. Sargent is better known for his famous painting of the Hunter's three beautiful daughters which now hangs in the Tate Gallery

Other visitors here during the Hunter's time included Rodin - the celebrate French sculptor, Percy Grainger - the composer, and Dame Ethel Smyth - Mrs Hunter's sister who was a composer and supporter of the suffragette movement (but no connection with the Smyths of Hill Hall). Although they were only tenants, the Hunters made a number of alterations to the house, particularly in the north west corner where until recently were the kitchens and the officer's quarters. Mr Hunter died in 1917 and is buried in the churchyard here

Eventually in 1925, when Mrs Hunter left, the Smyth's sold the house to the Hudsons. Sir Robert Hudson² had been a power behind the Liberal Party during its heyday under Gladstone, and Lady Hudson was the widow of Lord Northeliffe, so visitors to Hill Hall included many of the great political and literary figures of the time, including Lord Lee of Fareham, who gave his house Chequers, to the nation. Rudyard Kipling, and J. M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan. Lady Hudson had a flair for interior decorating and for gardening, interests which she shared with her life-long friend, Queen Mary, wife of King George V. On the 29t June 1926, Queen Mary came to Hill Hall, lunched in the dining room, planted a copper beech tree in the garden, and visited the church. The village school children formed a little guard of honour for her outside the church and cheered her when she left. Sir Robert Hudson died in 1927. There is a memorial to him in the church here, but in fact he was buried in Westminster Abbey of which he had been Treasurer for many years. Lady Hudson left here in 1931 when the house passed into the possession of Lord and Lady Edward Hay.

The Hays made a number of alterations to the house including putting in the ceiling in the library - previously this had been a music room, rising to the same height as the Great Hall, and had contained a large number of paintings of the Smyth family, including the two which were put back into the Great Hall again. The Hays also filled in the sunken garden made by Lady Hudson in memory of her husband. This garden, of which no trace now remains, ran the full length of the line of trees near the south east corner of the house. The Hays were here in 1929 at the outbreak of war and Lord Edward Hay was recalled to the forces as a Colonel in the Grenadier Guards. Soon after this, Lady Hay made herself a flat in the SW comer where the Governor's quarters are now,' and the rest of the house was at first used as a maternity home. This use was brought to an abrupt end in October 1940 when a German bomb dropped just outside the main gate. It failed to go off but was too dangerous to remove and had to be exploded on the spot causing some damage to the north wing of the house and breaking windows over a wide area. The house was subsequently used by the RAF and the Army, and as a POW camp. Nissen huts were put along each side of the drive where earlier there had been a stately avenue of elms

On 18h June 1944, when Lord Hay was reading the lesson at Morning Service in the guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks, a V1 flying bomb demolished the chapel, killing him and many others. He is buried in the churchyard. Finally in 1947 Hill Hall was sold to the Prison Commission. It is interesting to note that, in this way the Hill Hall estate returned once more to the Crown who had last held it in 1265.

After considerable renovation work, lasting 5 years, which included the removal of some enormous oak beams riddled with dry rot, the house welcomed on the 15th October 1952 its first Governor, Miss Wilson, and a pioneer party of 4 officers and 6 girls.

[This ends Vernon Harcourt's history of Hill Hall - however we should bring the story up to date.]

In 1969 whilst Hill Hall was still a Women's Open Prison' a disastrous fire broke out and the house was completely gutted. The building remained empty, suffering the ravages of time, the weather and vandalism until in 1980 it was taken into the care of the Environment Agency, which did some repairs but no restoration. In the 1987 storm the Great Hall chimney stack blew down, ringing alarm bells about the future of the house.

In 1993 English Heritage decided to take over responsibility and they found that the fire had not destroyed the main Tudor fabric of the building. £2 million were spent on the exterior of the building. reinstating roofs destroyed in the fire and the chimney stack and conserving the superb Elizabethan wall-paintings. In 1998 English Heritage decided to put the estate on the market and the house was converted into a number of apartments. A degree of public access to the grounds and courtyard of the main block and additionally to the Great Hall and the wall painting rooms was to be agreed with the purchaser.

Thus this brings us up to date on the history of Hill Hall.