Greyfriars, South Green
By Mike Medland
This building was originally called ‘South Green House’ and erected for Reverend Henry Uhtoff between 1828 and 1839 on a site that was occupied by much smaller dwellings. One of these dwellings was the sail shop built in 1815 by Philip Child and another, known as Julians’, a tailor.
The Rev. Henry Uhtoff (sometimes spelt Ulithoff) was the grandson of Sir Joshua Vanneck Bt. who acquired the Heveningham Hall estate in 1752. Sir Joshua had two children, Anna Maria Cornelia (Rev. Henry’s mother) and a son who became the first Lord Huntingfield and the Rev. Henry’s lifelong patron.
In 1752 Anna Maria married a Henry Uhtoff (1729 – 1784), merchant from Bremen, Germany and had a son – also named Henry – born in Mark Lane, London on 19th July 1758. This young Henry went on to marry Mary Farrer (1763 – 1843) daughter of James Farrer of Grey’s Inn, in 1780 and had two daughters, Frances Julia (1791 – 1871) and Mary Anne (1784 – 1826) who married in 1816 to Thomas Tindal, brother of Sir Nicolas Tindal, the Lord Chief Justice.
The young Henry entered Emmanuel College in 1776 and was B.A. in 1781. He was ordained deacon and priest by the Bishop of Norwich in 1782 and became rector of Huntingfield with Cookley and Aldham St. Mary, Suffolk until his death on 9th February 1848 in Huntingfield. I think he may still hold the record as the longest continuously serving rector. He had a licence for non-residence in Southwold which allowed him to spend much of his time between the two parishes.
South Green House originally consisted of just two storeys; the third floor is essentially a large dormer set into the front roof slope and was added later in the 19th Century. The identity of the architect is unknown, but may well have been the Rev. Henry himself. He had already added a bow- windowed extension to the Rectory at Huntingfield and the bow front of Regency House is almost identical both externally and internally. The Rev. Henry was a man of many interests and as a student of architecture would have mixed with many intellectuals in London society. The Regency period extended from 1800 to 1830 and, in architectural terms, is best described as “refined elegance”. Many of our greatest architectural gems emanate from this period and details of the design of the house bear striking resemblances to designs by Sir John Soane (1753 – 1837). Henry also knew the architect James Wyatt (1746 – 1813) who designed nearby Henham Hall between 1793 and 1797, and his grandfather’s Heveningham Hall completed in 1784.
After his death in 1848, his daughter, Frances, continued to live in the house until 1865 when she moved to Westhall Hall. The house was purchased by Mr. J.E. Grubbe in 1867 (the same year as he became Mayor of Southwold for the first time; in fact he was mayor longer than any other person, a total of 20 years, 1867-75 and 1879-91). His son E.E. Grubbe also became mayor for one term, 1911-12. In 1878 a Mr. Gaussen bought it for £1,600 and added the third floor. His widow sold it on to a Mr. J.J. Mayhew (mayor 1891-92 and again 1898-99) in 1897 for £2,500.
From this point, the elegant private dwelling took on a new function, that of a hotel. There is a photograph in Bernard Keeling’s book ‘St. Felix School Southwold and the old Felicians’ showing the building with large lettering attached to the first floor wrought iron balustrade dated 1898 and proclaiming it as ‘Golf Links House’. This venture seems to have been short-lived as St. Felix School rented the building between 1898 and 1902 for use as classrooms and dormitories.
Bernard Keeling also refers to the period the school spent here as being responsible for the establishment of the school’s tradition of house picnics. This came about as the traditional Trinity Fair that occupies South Green caused such a disturbance that it was impossible to teach in the building – a problem that still afflicts the residents today.
It was probably after St. Felix left that it acquired the name Greyfriars and J.J. Mayhew seems to have tried to make some income from the house. A man called Paddison ran a cramming establishment for boys, which he hoped to develop into a small school. It is said that he was too much of a disciplinarian, which was the reason his hopes were not realised.
In 1910 a Walter Heep and his family occupied it and, by 1926, L.S. Harrisson, a local solicitor, was renting a substantial part of the property for £75 p.a. About 1916 Mr. Baker, the manager of the wine shop and another man arrested a German prisoner of war who was hiding in the cellar to which access was obtained from the outside by raising two large wooden doors on the South Green side of the house.
J.J. Mayhew died on 14th February 1932 and left the house to his wife. Unfortunately she too died nine days later. During WWII the army occupied the house and in 1950, two brothers, Edward James and Theodore Abner Goddard bought Greyfriars. Between 1952 and 1954 they split the property internally and sold off the wings – Greyfriars North and South, and the central portion, renamed Regency House. Sadly the south wing has been subject to some very unsympathetic renovation in recent years.
The building is still the subject of many holiday makers’ photographs and is referred to in numerous guides on Southwold in glowing terms. An unusual feature is a ‘crow’s nest’ or ‘widow’s walk’ right at the top of the house. This offers one of the highest vantage points in the town with magnificent views in all directions. In ‘Discovering Southwold’ Alan Bottomley and John Hutchinson comment on the building’s pre-eminence and its amazing and remarkably successful pyramidal composition. With its broad central bow, shutters, slightly gothic ironwork and spreading ‘Tuscan’ eaves, it is the ultimate in seaside elegance.
Mike Medland, 2002 |