Stoke Rochford Park

Image: © Marathon Taken: 21 Mar 2014

There have been a number of noble houses at Stoke Rochford. The previous, smaller house was demolished in the 1840s when Christopher Turnor built the present house. Christopher Turnor succeeded his father in 1829 when he was 20 years old and eventually owned over 20,000 acres of Lincolnshire. The architect for the house was William Burn and the total cost was £60,000. Burn also laid out Stoke Rochford village in Tudor style between 1840 and 1845. A later Christopher Turnor, who died in 1940, was the last of the family to live in the house. During the Second World War the house was taken over by the War Department and for 18 months it housed the headquarters of the Second Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. After the war the house became a training college for teachers. The college closed in 1878 in which year it was bought by the National Union of Teachers for their National Education and Conference Centre. A devastating fire in 2005 destroyed much of the main house and the restoration took three years and cost £12 million. Stoke Rochford Hall is still owned by the National Union of Teachers and is now a hotel and conference centre with impressive grounds. This photograph is in the park, just to the west of the house and close to the obelisk commemorating Sir Isaac Newton. As can be seen it was lambing season.

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