Earlham Hall

The Gurneys were known as bankers and social activists; prison reformer Elizabeth Fry grew up at Earlham Hall.

When the University of East Anglia was founded in 1963, the building became its administrative centre, and it now serves as the law school.

At this juncture the house was rented to the Gurney family, an arrangement which persisted for well over a century, "perhaps one of the oldest tenancies known for a mansion of the size, though very frequent In the case of farmhouses".

(The family became sufficiently well known to be mentioned in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1875 comic opera Trial by Jury: a character describes his accumulation of wealth until "at length I became as rich as the Gurneys".

[1] In his autobiographical novel Lavengro Borrow recalls Earlham Hall; On the right side is a green level, a smiling meadow, grass of the richest decks the side of the slope; mighty trees also adorn it, giant elms, the nearest of which, when the sun is nigh its meridian, fling a broad shadow upon the face of the ancient brick of an old English Hall.

[1] Lubbock spent his childhood summer holidays at his mother's family home; his memoir Earlham (1922) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Following major refurbishment and restoration (at a cost of around £8 million[12]), the Law School returned to Earlham Hall in March 2014 after four years being located in the Blackdale building.