Uncovering the History of Historic Buildings

We first met Ellen when working on Oulton Hall, a Grade II listed property in Norfolk. The property had been extensively damaged by an aggressive fire in March 2015. Ellen`s research and report, with particular relation to the architectural history of the property, contributed significantly to our understanding of the building and its evolution. The documentation and drawings Ellen uncovered during her research were a constant source of reference and used to inform the strategy for reconstruction both structurally and architecturally.

Your service was flawless and you always made the research easy to understand and digest. Your knowledge of architecture was so thorough and on a personal basis I loved working with you.

When my wife and I were staying in Chippenham, the owner of the rather grand B&B house in which we stayed showed us a history of the house researched by Ellen. We were both professional archaeologists and used to reading, editing and reviewing all manner of reports, and we were very impressed with the contents, writing, images and excellent layout of Ellen’s research report. So when we bought our 18th century listed house in Corsham it immediately occurred to us to contact Ellen and commission a history. We were very pleased with the result and amongst many admirable aspects, the level and depth of research and the fascinating details that she was able to uncover has meant that the report has been sought after in our neighbourhood and a copy lodged with the local library.

When Hickling Hall was totally destroyed by fire on Boxing Day 2014 we were faced with a massive evidence gathering challenge to rebuild the Hall. Ellen joined the team and produced a first class building history scoping everything from the earliest mid-14th century beginnings to the present day including some fascinating snippets of social history. For example, a candlelit banquette was held at the Hall in 1753 at which “6 bottles of wine, 8 stones of beef and a leg of mutton" were evidently consumed and “two women helping to attend" were employed for the occasion. We highly commend Ellen for similar work.

We “found” Ellen through the Listed Heritage magazine. Fortuitously we discovered she had been brought up in Surrey near our old farm house. We asked Ellen to research and write a history of Jincox Farm as we believed its 600th birthday was approaching. Her meticulous research showed we had missed the big birthday by 14 years! We are delighted with the book anyway and have a more or less complete history of its ownership through Ellen’s diligent research. The resulting book is beautifully produced and something which we will treasure.