What’s the story? | Elton Hall

Local historians and authors June and Vernon Bull uncover the history of some of Peterborough and the region’s iconic buildings

Elton Hall is a baronial hall built in the 15th century at Elton now in Cambridgeshire (but geographically Elton has previously been located in the counties of Rutland, as well as Huntingdonshire). The hall stands on a site where there has been a house since the Norman Conquest. Elton Hall is eight miles south-west of Peterborough.

It is thought to have been built by Sir Richard Sapcote (or Sapcotts) who died c1477, and who was the High Sheriff of Rutland. Sir Richard built the house with private accommodation on the south-west, kitchens in the north-west and a gateway tower on the south-east side. The hall was surrounded by a moat but that has long since been filled up. Research suggests that his descendant Robert Sapcote (died c1600/1601) was the last of his family to live at Elton Hall.

The entrance hall lined in recent times with early 17th century Dutch panelling brought over to Elton Hall from Glenart Castle in Ireland

Sir Peter Proby (d.1624), Lord Mayor of London and Comptroller of the Royal Household, was granted land and property at Elton by Queen Elizabeth I. His grandson, Sir Thomas Proby, finished the refurbishments to the main house in 1666, incorporating the medieval chapel and gatehouse of the original castle.

Glenart Castle, County Wicklow, Ireland, taken in the 1920s

Victorian additions and alterations to Elton Hall took place between1855 and1860. The inside of the house has been overly modernised with the entrance hall lined in recent times with early 17th century Dutch panelling brought over to Elton Hall from Glenart Castle in Ireland. (The castle is now a hotel, but was once the Irish ancestral home of the Probys – the First Earl of Carysfort was created in 1789 when a peerage was granted to John Proby.) The Probys have lived at Elton Hall for nearly four centuries.

One notable feature of the hall is the state drawing room which is the largest room in the house and was formed from the Medieval Chapel in around 1760. The decoration… [cont]