{{Short description|Manor house in Suffolk, England}} thumb '''Otley Hall''' is a 16th-century English manor house<ref name="BH Otley">{{cite web |title=A visit to Otley Hall - the birthplace of the Virginia Company |url=https://britishheritage.com/history/otley-hall-virginia-company |website=British Heritage |publisher=British Heritage |access-date=29 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref> in the civil parish of Otley, in the East Suffolk district, Suffolk, England. It is a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1198837?section=official-list-entry|title=Otley Hall|publisher=Historic England|accessdate=30 January 2023}}</ref> The manor was previously known as Netherhall Manor.<ref name="Coppinger 3">{{cite book |last1=Coppinger |first1=W. A. |title=The Manors of Suffolk Vol. 3|date=1909 |publisher=Taylor Garnet & Evans |location=Manchester}}</ref>
==The Gosnold period== John Gosnold at first rented what became Otley Hall. By the sixteenth century Otley Manor was vested in the Gosnold family building, and soon their new building gained the status of a manorial building.<ref name="OPC History">{{cite web |title=History of Otley |url=http://otley.onesuffolk.net/our-village/history-of-otley/ |website=otley.onesuffolk.net |publisher=Otley Parish Council |access-date=2 February 2023}}</ref> Robert Gosnold was responsible for building the oldest extant parts of the building in 1512.<ref name="BH Otley"/> The four-centred arch that provides the entrance bears his initials.<ref name="Pevsner Suffolk">{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus, Sir |title=Suffolk |orig-date=1974 |date=1975 |publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=9780140710205 |edition=2nd}}</ref>
The Gosnold family relinquished control of the building around 1668 when it was sold Sir Anthony Deane.<ref name="Otley Past">{{cite book |last1=Ling |first1=Russell |last2=Hawes |first2=Lester |title=Otley Past: Folklore and Local History |date=2012 |publisher=Russell Ling and Lester Haw4es |location=Otley}}</ref>
==Rebow period== Isaac Rebow bought Otley Hall in 1686. However, although the property remained in their family possession for over 200 years, it was never used by them as a residence. They let the property to tenant farmers on long leases. From 1763 it was rented by the Ling family for many years. However, when William Ling went bankrupt in 1880, the tenancy was taken over by Frederick Miller. When the Rebows sold the estate in 1900, Miller bought the property.<ref name="OPC History"/>
==The Sherston period== In 1910 Dorothy Sherston, the daughter of General William Parke, bought the house from Miller as a family home following her marriage to Somerset Sherston.
==Otley Hall gardens== The gardens were redesigned by Inigo Thomas,<ref name=Gardenvisit>{{cite web |url= http://www.gardenvisit.com/gardens/otley_hall_garden |title=Otley Hall Garden |work=Gardenvisit.com |access-date=29 January 2023}}</ref> with a knot garden designed by Sylvia Landsberg.
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:Country houses in Suffolk Category:Grade I listed houses in Suffolk Category:Manor houses in England Category:East Suffolk (district)