[Former] Odd Fellows Hall - Bungay, Suffolk - Odd Fellow Lodges on Waymarking.com

A former Odd Fellows lodge hall behind the old Kings Head hotel, Bungay.

"The hall is behind The Kings Head hotel, a well-known and prominent landmark, dating from 1632 which is Grade II listed and is located within the town centre of Bungay, facing towards the Market Place and to the rear is the castle mound. The A144, Earsham Street follows the course of the original moat curving round the castle mound, which is now populated by some significant buildings forming an attractive thoroughfare. To the rear of the Kings Head are later 19th century additions and the Oddfellows Hall, which was used more recently as a function room and music venue."

SOURCE - (visit link)

"The Howards, lords of Arundel and Framlingham, could never have had much use for the deserted ruins of Bungay Castle, and it is perhaps not surprising to find that in 1766 it was sold to an inhabitant of Bungay, a Mr. Mickleborough,who intended to take it down and sell the stones as road metal. He set men to work on it with picks, and to this day can be seen the depredations they wrought, undermining the walls of the keep until they had brought down the south-west angle which had been preserved from the previous assaults of Alnodus of Ipswich at such heavy cost to the pocket of Hugh Bigod its builder. Fortunately for posterity, the masonry was so strong that Mr. Mickle-borough's workmen broke all their picks before they had completely removed the castle, and the destructive gentleman found it would not pay him to continue. He therefore sold what remained to the wife of a resident of Bungay, a Mrs. Bonhote, who converted the gatehouse into a residence by building a cottage between its two towers, in which she lived and wrote books, notably the two-volume novel "Bungay Castle." - (visit link)

About 1800 she sold it back to the Dukes of Norfolk, who seemed at last to be realising that their heritage was slipping away from them. Unfortunately a lapse occurred when in 1884 the trustees of the Norfolk estates sold it again to the Bungay Lodge of Oddfellows, who built a large brick hall against the eastern side of the mound. In 1898, however, it was again rescued by the Duke of Norfolk,whose son has retained it to the present day. During the centuries which had elapsed since the castle had been in use as a residence its condition had been steadily becoming worse. It had of course been used as a quarry for building material through-out, and much of it, the outer and middle gatehouses, for example, had vanished completely. Cottages and hovels had been erected against the walls and rubbish of all descriptions dumped in and about he ruins. Recently the keep and its surroundings had been used as a beer-garden, and the castle was usually described in guidebooks as being " in the yard of the King's Head Inn.""

SOURCE - (visit link)

Location Details: Courtyard behind Kings Head hotel, Bungay Date of construction: 1882 location website: Not listed

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