Greenstead Hall

Greenstead Green near Halstead, Essex

Built circa 1800, for Isaac Emery (d.1803) when it was named "Halstead Lodge". In 1805, Emery's widow, Elizabeth, married Colonel James Brewster (1767-1836) J.P., D.L., and they made their home here until 1836. Having no children of their own, Halstead Lodge passed to James' brother, Joseph Nunn Brewster (1783-1862). It was Joseph's son, Major Cardinal Brewster (1813-1889) J.P., D.L., F.S.A., who renamed it Greenstead Hall in 1862. It is often confused with Greensted Hall near Ongar to which it bore a similarity (albeit on a smaller scale) before that house was altered in 1875....

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This house is best associated with...

James Brewster

Colonel James Brewster, of Halstead Lodge, Essex

1767-1836

Joseph Nunn Brewster

Joseph Nunn Brewster, Surgeon, of Halstead Lodge, Essex

1783-1862

Cardinal Brewster

Major Cardinal Brewster (1813-1889) J.P., D.L., F.S.A., of Greenstead Hall, Essex

1813-1889

Robert Allen

Robert Allen, Maltster, of Greenstead Hall, Essex

1840-1905

Claude Frederick Shoolbred

Claude F. Shoolbred, Chartered Accountant, of Greenstead Hall, Essex

1862-1922

Eleanor (Dell) Shoolbred

Mrs Eleanor (Dell) Shoolbred

1876-1970

From old maps it is clear to see that the house did not exist in 1798, but had been built by 1805, and when Isaac Emery died in 1803 he was described as a "gentleman" of Halstead Lodge. The Brewsters were an old Suffolk/Essex family. The brother of one of their ancestors built Wrentham Hall in Suffolk but their line settled at Hedingham in Essex in the 16th Century. The Brewsters of Wrentham and Hedingham share the same coat-of-arms as William Brewster (1568-1644) who sailed to America on the Mayflower.

By 1885, Cardinal Brewster had sold Greenstead to Robert Allen of R.A. Allen, Maltsters, of Sudbury, Suffolk - a family firm founded in the 18th Century. It remained in the Allen family until 1906 when it was announced that the Greenstead Hall estate (comprised of "Greenstead Hall Mansion, and park, and two farms, in all about 376-acres") was sold at auction to Claude Frederick Shoolbred, a Chartered Accountant formerly of London.

Mrs Shoolbred’s Convalescent Hospital

Claude F. Shoolbred (1862-1922) was the grandson of James Shoolbred who started life as a draper before becoming an important manufacturer of high quality furniture, opening the first department store (James Shoolbred & Co.) on Tottenham Court Road in London.

Claude lived at Greenstead Hall with his wife, Eleanor Dell (1876-1970), their children, one governess, and 10-servants. During World War I, they opened their home as a Red Cross Convalescent Home. It was formally known as the Greenstead Hall Auxiliary Hospital, and less formally as "Mrs Shoolbred’s Convalescent Hospital" run by Mrs Shoolbred, "the Commandant" and her eldest daughter, Mary (1898-1983), the nurse.

Greenstead into the 21st Century

After World War Two, the Shoolbreds retired to Hove on the Sussex coast and Greenstead was purchased by Thomas and Enid Johnston J.P. By the 1970s, it had come into the possession of Robert Felix Erith (b.1938) a retired Major who went into banking and was then Deputy Chairman of Erith PLC at London before serving as High Sheriff of Essex.

The alterations the Eriths made here in 1972-73 were carried out by Robert's famous relation, Raymond Erith (1904-1973), one of England's most prominent classical architects after the war. It's unclear when the Eriths sold up, but in 2020 it was on the market again with Zoe Napier. It was then described as a 7,000-square foot house with 4-large reception rooms, 7-bedrooms, 50-acres and an asking price of £3.75 million.