You can trace Ickworth’s origins back to the Domesday book when it was merely one of hundreds of assets belonging to the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. Its association with the Hervey family began three centuries later in 1432, when Thomas Hervey acquired the land by marriage. Through success and scandal, Ickworth was the family’s home for the next 500 years. Thomas’ descendants set about transforming the ancient deer-park into an aristocratic paradise. The modest medieval hall became a turreted Tudor mansion. In 1701 the 1st Earl demolished the mansion and developed plans for an even grander abode. He also renovated the church, where all Ickworth owners have been laid to rest. Residents of the tiny hamlet of Ickworth were rehoused in neighbouring Horringer, and their former dwellings demolished to make way for pasture. The next generation of Herveys made even more of an impact on the landscape. Aptly, construction began on the Earl-Bishop’s ‘stupendous monument of folly’, the Ro...
