Prested Hall

A document of 1701 shows that he passed the property to Jasper Blythman, Elizabeth’s husband as part of a marriage settlement.

[8] At some stage during this century it seems that the Eley (sometimes called Ely) family bought the property as it was owned by them until about 1800.

Francis Hills (1806-1881) was one of these tenants and he is recorded in the 1851 Census as living there with his wife Hannah and six children.

His son John Harrison Hills took over the running of Prested Hall and is shown in the 1881 and 1891 census as living there with his wife Lucy.

When the younger son William died in 1898 all of the Feering properties owned by the Ravens were put on the market and many of them were bought by Nathaniel Newman Sherwood.

For two years he was apprenticed to his uncle who was an engineer on the Great Eastern Railway but this work was not to his liking so in 1862 he entered the firm Hurst and Son who were wholesale seed merchants.

From about 1890 after the Hill family left he used Prested Hall as a hunting lodge and acquired the other surrounding estates in 1898 (a list of these is shown in the notice above).

In 1910 the United States journal called “The American Florist” published an article about him with accompanying photo which can be seen here He was also the subject of a feature article in 1912 in the English magazine called “The Garden” with a photo which is shown.

He died in 1916 and left Prested Hall to his younger son John Edward Newman Sherwood.

In 1896 at the age of 18 he entered his father’s firm of Hurst and Son seed growers and became joint manager with his elder brother William.

Like his father he joined many seed and horticultural societies and was an active community member.