Stepping Back Through History... Felix Hall

Raising it like a phoenix from the flames, from the Essex Record Office shares the history of Felix Hall near Kelvedon, before it was burned to the ground

- Hannah Salisbury

THE SCORCHED RUINS of Felix Hall, near Kelvedon, today give a tantalising glimpse of a grand past. The manor which used to be controlled by Felix Hall has a long history. In the medieval period it was held by the Filliol family and Felix Hall is a corruption of this name. The Filliols were likely not at Kelvedon very much, being engaged in fighting wars. The male Filliol line ran out in 1345, when the property was inherited by a daughter, Cecily Filliol, who married Sir John de Bohun. The de Bohuns hung on to the manor for a few generations, before it passed through various other owners.

The estate was purchased in 1630 by a wealthy London merchant, Anthony Abdy, and it stayed within the family for more than a century. One of the Abdy family, Abigail, kept a book of household recipes, ranging from plague cures to macarons, which survives today at the Essex Record Office. The Abdy name died out at Felix Hall in 1744 when its owner Charlotte Abdy married John Williams. During the Williams’s ownership the hall was rebuilt on a grand scale.