Sutton House

A bitterly cold, windy day, with just a few flurries of snow (again!).   Just the sort of weather to do something indoors, so i decided to visit another National Trust property, this time Sutton House in Homerton.

It was very easy to get to; a straight journey on the Overground from Shepherds Bush to Hackney Central, and then just a five minute walk through a very pleasant park called St. John at Hackney.

It's a rather ghastly area; Hackney Central station is on Mare Street, which is rather down-at-heel during the day, and rather creepy at night.  It's definitely not one of the nicer parts of London!   But in the early afternoon the streets were full of people rushing around, all wrapped up against the cold.

St. John at Hackney was once called St. Augustine's, but only the tower remains of the original church, and the new building is some distance away, and also very firmly locked - there was no opportunity to have a look inside.   I did, however, look at the Garden of Remembrance for the victims of the massacre at Lidice which is in the adjoining walled children's play area.

Sutton House is one of the oldest in the area, and although it is Tudor, has the distinction of being built of red brick, hence its earliest name of Bryk House - it has had many names since, before becoming Sutton House.    It was built in the sixteenth century by Ralph Sadleir in what was at the time a village outside London, and has had a very checquered history, having been used as a private residence by various people, a school, union offices, and a home for some squatters, who left their artwork on the walls.  Today it is open to the public, and is also the home of various community activities, including a writing group.

Set in an ordinary street, with a new secondary school just across the road, Sutton House has a lot of atmosphere; it isn't very big, but it has plenty there to keep you occupied for a couple of hours if you take the time to read everything and enjoy the sense of history which pervades it.    It is also very child friendly.