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Christchurch Mansion

One of Suffolk’s most treasured buildings is the beautiful Christchurch Mansion (free admission). This Tudor delight boasts 500 of history and sits on the site of the Holy Trinity Priory, founded in the 12th century.
Christchurch Mansion features historic rooms set out in traditional styles. You can explore a Tudor style kitchen, a Victorian parlour, a music room and much more. Visitors can take a closer look at the Victorian toys and see examples of beautiful costume from throughout history too. The Mansion also has a fine collection of art with artists from Suffolk, Thomas Gainsborough and the biggest collection of John Constable paintings outside of London.


The Mansion is used as a museum to display fine and decorative art coupled with a range of room settings that, in particular, allow parts of the furniture and costume collections to be displayed.  Overall, however, the displays are somewhat confused and there are no clear storylines or themes uniting the whole building.  Thought still needs to be given to the major themes to be covered, but clearly this will include the history of the house and continuing to act as a showcase for pre-20th century fine and applied art.  There is also a real opportunity to establish Christchurch Mansion as a centre for understanding the life and work of John Constable, particularly by adding to the display relevant material currently held in the reserve collections at Colchester.  One historical story to be told in the building will be that of Margaret Catchpole, a famous, or infamous, local character of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.