Bluebridge House
HALSTEAD, ESSEX
An ornate Grade II* Listed Queen Anne restoration project
Built in 1714 for John Morley, agent to the second Earl of Oxford, this picturesque Queen Anne property and its original owner are steeped in Essex 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, carrying out a full, sensitive restoration to its 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 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 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
Bluebridge House was built in 1714, as designated by a plaque above the main entrance, yet the extensive brick wall surrounding the property dates from the late seventeenth century. The front wrought-iron gates bear the initials, 'J.M', denoting Bluebridge House's original owner, John Morley. A replica of Morley's portrait (painted in 1716 by royal court artist Sir Godfrey Kneller) hung above the fireplace in the grand reception room. Morley was born in Halstead in 1656, and served as the agent for the second Earl of Oxford. He purchased a Tudor mansion named Muchensies, and in its place he built Bluebridge House, so named after the 'Blew Bridge' nearby, painted blue by Morley. The 1787 watercolour, 'Blue Bridge, Home of John Morley of Halstead' uses an interpretation of the property as its central focus.
Portrait of John Morley by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1716
'Blue Bridge, Home of John Morley of Halstead', 1787
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.
