Bluebridge House
An ornate Grade II* Listed
Queen Anne restoration project
Built in 1714 for John Morley, agent to the Earls of Oxford, this picturesque property and its original owner are steeped in English history
Situated on the outskirts of the Essex village of Halstead, Grade II* Listed Bluebridge House is set in three acres of formal structural garden and natural meadow. McCabe & Abel purchased the Queen Anne property and Bluebridge Coach House, carrying out a full, sensitive restoration to both internal and external period features and extensive gardens. The grounds are mapped out with gravel pathways and yorkstone paths which access large expanses of lawn. Bluebridge House is bordered by older, Grade II Listed seventeenth century walls.
The property, which encompasses 7,500 square feet, includes 8 bedrooms, a grand reception hall with oak parquet floor, bespoke Aga kitchen, library, walk-in-pantry, carved oak staircase, loggia, greenhouse, substantial outbuildings and a large Grade II Listed coach house, which also underwent a full restoration. The property was formerly open for visitors to view the grounds and art collection, and is listed as a building of note in Bentley & Pevsner's The Buildings of England.
'Five-bay front of red and blue brick, with a stone plaque giving the date and the name of the owner [...] Good wrought-iron railings and gate, including elaborate overthrow with Morley's initials.'
- Bentley & Pevsner, The Buildings of England
History of Bluebridge House
Top: Bluebridge House during the mid-twentieth century
Left: Reproduction of portrait of John Morley by royal court artist Sir Godfrey Kneller, commissioned by McCabe & Abel
Right: Sir James Thornhill, acclaimed Baroque artist linked to Bluebridge House's former ornamental summer house
Bluebridge House, as designated by a plaque above the entrance and iron gates bearing the initials 'J.M', was built in 1714, for John Morley. Born in 1656, Morley was a butcher rising to become agent to the Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford (chief minister to Queen Anne from 1711-1714.) Having negotiated the marriage for the 2nd Earl, Morley was bestowed with a sizeable commission of the dowry, amounting to £10,000.
Morley purchased a Tudor mansion named Munchensies, and in its place Bluebridge House, also known as Collups, was built. A statue of Morley with a pig, a proud acknowledgement of his origin, was erected on a stone plinth in the garden, also renowned for its heated wall to rapidly ripen grapes. The property was the focus of a 1787 watercolour, 'Blue Bridge, Home of John Morley of Halstead' auctioned by Sotheby's in 1980.
Testament to his successful rise, Morley sat for a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), portraitist to every British monarch between Charles II to George I. A reproduction of the portrait was commissioned by McCabe & Abel to hang in the main reception hall.
When Bluebridge House was built, an ornamental summer house was constructed in the garden. Its ceiling was adorned with a portrait of Flora, goddess of flowers and spring, by Sir James Thornhill. An acclaimed Baroque painter, Thornhill was responsible for the painted dome of St Paul's Cathedral, the Painted Hall at Greenwich, and artworks at Hampton Court Palace, Blenheim Palace and more. Historian Norman Scarfe states that the summer house was destroyed by bombs in the Second World War.
The Restoration
When McCabe & Abel purchased Bluebridge House, both the internal and external features of the property required a sensitive restoration as befits a Grade II* Listed property. Bluebridge Coach House, Grade II Listed, was also restored with the same effort and care, transforming both properties into comfortable family homes.
