History - Old Sotterley Hall

Old Satterley Hall of Sotterley, in Suffolk Co., England, the ancestral home of the Satterlee family, was five years old with an escutcheon (a shield coat of arms) 500 years old; it was a place called Sotterly Manor, the home of Sir Roger de Soterley, Knighted 1285 and favorite of William the Conqueror. In 1387 Sir Edward was ousted because of King Henry VI. Sir Roger's estate was confiscated by Edward IV, while Edward was only the Duke of York.  Sir Thomas Satterlee was the last Lord of the Manor.  His brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Playter acquired it in 1649.  It remained in the Playter family until 1740 when it was purchased by Miles barnes.

What appears as another building or castle at the right are ruins of probably still another hall outside the moat. The Hall extended much further in the rear than will appear here in the painting (having a capacity for 2 or 3 hundred retainers and servants). The moat was much further distant from the Hall, more than 500 feet. The columns were of polished white marble and undoubtedly of a later date than the main part of the building. The square building to the left is the watchtower, and the gigantic oak tree to the right is the Satterlee Ancestral Oak of which the English are so proud. It is said that Lord Nelson's flagship "Victory" was made from Satterlee oak trees. To the far left is St. Margaret's Church.   Old Satterley Hall was destroyed by fire in 1744.

 

Pictured above is Sotterley Manor as it appeared in this 1973 photo, taken by Milton Satterlee.

 

Editor's Note:  This material was adapted from the published works and some personal notes of Goldie Satterlee Moffatt.  Unfortunately, the materials did not contain the original photos, but rather the copies you see here.  If you have better copies of these photos or other photos of higher quality, we would be pleased to place them here.  You can see the contributions of David Satterlee, Jr. on the Photographs of Sotterley page. Please contact webmaster@satterlee.org with contributions of photos.  Thanks to Katie Jaques for providing an electronic transcription of the published text.