Ingatestone Hall - 2023 Season open to the public

The team at Ingatestone Hall are delighted to announce the opening of their thirtieth season.

From Easter Sunday (April 9th) until the end of September, we will be welcoming visitors to explore the Hall and gardens every Sunday, Wednesday and Bank Holiday afternoon (noon - 5 p.m.) and to enjoy teas and light meals in the house's highly regarded tearoom.

At all other times, private guided tours for groups or school visits can be prebooked and the house and/or grounds are also available for hire for special occasions such as weddings, dinners, meetings and exhibitions.

In addition we will be offering our usual range of special events designed to appeal to a variety of tastes.

2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the composer, William Byrd who has a special connection with Ingatestone Hall in that the first Lord Petre was his patron.  Two concerts are being held to celebrate the anniversary by Angel Early Music (June 10) and the Renaissance Singers (October 21).

Other plays and concerts will be presented, either in the courtyard:

• The Wind in the Willows (May 14).
• Concert by vocal duo the Cherries (June 3).
• Twelfth Night (June 5).
• The Comedy of Errors (July 13).
• James Bond - Shaken not stirred (August 5).

or indoors:

• There never was - a new play by Justin Cartledge (July 20-22).

Finally, we look forward to the return of several regular annual events - the Tudor Festival, evoking 16th century life (May 20/21).  Ingatestone Rotary's Jazz Festival featuring the Jive Aces and the Salty Town Six, (July 15), a special garden opening in aid of the Red Cross (August 6) and the Billericay Mayflower Morris Dancers (August 28)

Further information

Ingatestone Hall is a 16th century manor house in 12 acres of grounds, built by Sir William Petre and still occupied by his descendants.  It is filled with furniture, pictures and memorabilia accumulated over the centuries including two priests' hiding-places.

It is reached via Station Lane and Hall Lane off the London end of Ingatestone High Street

Normal admission prices: Adults - £8.50,.  Pensioners - £7.50, Children - £4

Concert at Ingatestone Hall. Saturday 25 March 2023.

Chamber Choir, Vocalium are holding a concert to celebrate William Byrd's 400th anniversary at Ingatestone Hall on Saturday 25 March beginning at 7.30pm. Vocalium has members who are alumi of the Elizabethan Madrigal Society based at Aberystwyth University. The concert includes the 'Mass for Four Voices' undoubtedly sung at Ingatestone Hall during Byrd's lifetime. Follow this link for more information and tickets: William Byrd: A celebration of his sacred works Tickets, Sat 25 Mar 2023 at 19:30 | Eventbrite

Mistaken Identity

Writing during the time of the Covid lockdown, Rory McCleery in The Guardian (28 April 2020) refers to a visit to Ingatestone Hall in July 1586 by Henry Garnet and Robert Southwell two Jesuit priests who had just arrived from the Continent. Singing in secret: how William Byrd created his best work in isolation | Classical music | The Guardian.

William Byrd was present according to Henry Garnet– but they were not at Ingatestone Hall.

The secret welcoming party to the priests was held at Hurleyford in Buckinghamshire. The house is about thirty miles west of London on the bank of the river Thames, itself a county boundary, two miles upstream from Marlow. Justice is administered by county officials and to cross the Thames by boat is a quick means of evading capture. Garnet, Southwell, and Father Weston, who escorted them there, are the most wanted men in England.

Confusion may have been caused by Edmund Fellowes who, in his 1936 biography of William Byrd, refers to Mr Bold or Bolt as organist to Sir John Petre. He repeats Father Morris’ ‘Troubles of our Catholic forefathers’.

It is true that John Bolt (or Bold) had been a Court musician and became organist to John Petre, according to A. C. Edwards 1975 biography to John Petre.

However, the man who owned Hurleyford was Richard Bold, says Philip Caraman in his 1964 biography of Henry Garnet.

This all happens at the time of the Babington Plot.

In September Hurleyford is raided, its owner Richard Bold, and William Fitton, are arrested.

Investigators into the Babington Plot find a letter on the person of John Reason, Byrd’s servant, to “m[aste]r Fyton” who was thought to be present at the Hurleyford event.  Walsingham’s office diary notes: “’To seek out matters against Bryde’, ‘to sende to Fra[nci]s Mylls m[aste]r Brydes note’ and ‘To sende for M[aste]r Byrde’”.

William Weston is later arrested and imprisoned, but Garnet and Southwell remain at large.

Edwards also refers to another error. “There is supposed to be a family tradition that Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, spent his first night in England at Ingatestone Hall and there received John Petre into the Roman Catholic Church”. Both are dubious. Edwards then goes on to suggest that “as Arthur Negus would say, ‘It doesn’t look right’”.  You must be a certain age to know that Arthur Negus was a television antiques expert appearing at the end of his career in ‘The Antiques Roadshow’ but earlier in ‘Going For A Song’. A musical twist on this is that the theme tune of the latter was by Respighi – “The Birds”.

‘Singing in Secret. Clandestine Catholic Music by William Byrd’ by The Marian Consort, directed by Rory McCleery, is an excellent disc. The choir appeared at the Roman River Festival at Coggeshall in September 2022 and it was Rory McCleery’s note that led me to reconsider who William Byrd was. The talk ‘The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local History’ is nearing completion. It will be given this summer in two locations. Details soon!!

Illegal Masses and Priest Holes

“You have all heard no doubt of the discovery of a hidden chamber at Ingatestone Hall in 1855. This was undoubtedly what is called a Priest’s Hole for hiding both Priest and vestments in the days when Mass was illegal. It measures 14ft. long, by 2ft. broad and 10ft. deep and was approached by a trap door and ladder and when discovered contained a chest for vestments and vessels”.

Laurie, Major Allan D. Antiquities of Essex (1946)

Ingatestone Hall Open To Visitors

Ingatestone Hall, the seat of the Petre family, opens its doors once again to the public from Easter Sunday (next Sunday, 24 April) through until the end of September. The Hall was the location of frequent visits of the local composer William Byrd, both before and whilst in semi-retirement at Stondon Massey in Essex.

According to the website www.ingatestonehall.com the Hall and gardens are open from 12.00 – 5.00pm (last admission 4pm) on Wednesdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays (except Wednesdays in June).

Pictured here is an old postcard showing, to the right, the former Chapel (now demolished) used by the family and local Catholic community for Services.

The present Lord Petre is coming to the William Byrd Festival on 7 May at 4pm.