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Garnish Hall has probably been standing at least as long
as the Norman church, rebuilt during the reign of William
1. It is probable too that it was part of a Saxon settlement
long before that, Roothinger being a Saxon Warrior Prince.
ORIGINS OF THE NAME GARNISH...
There is mention of Garnish Hall during the reign of Henry
11 (1154-1189). In 1328, Robert de Rootinge held the land
from the Bishop of Ely. The noble family of De Vere, Earls
of Oxford, held the Hall during this time and appointed Henry
Garnet as their under-tenant, from whom it took the name Garnetts
Hall in 1329, later to become Garnish.
It is possible that one of our bedrooms is haunted by a friendly
ghost, but only the young are aware of this. In this particular
room is the frame of the original window, when cow horn or
alabaster was used before glass. Part of the moat still surrounds
the Hall; the original was designed to keep out wild animals
and marauding tribes. The clay from the moat may have been
used to build part of the Hall. The windows seen while ascending
the gracious hanging staircase are Elizabethan. From here,
you can see the partially walled garden, with very old bricks
and pump.
The church, St. Margaret of Antioch, probably once the chapel
of the Hall is full of fascinating treasures and again, according
to the young, haunted. This time though, the haunting is not
by the felon who was hanged for stealing the church silver;
the latter miraculously restored to the Church. The Norman
doorway is perhaps the best preserved in Essex.
We hold stones which have been passed down from the Prime
Minister William Pitt from 1738. However, we cannot claim
the 'Pitt nose'! |
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