News from Ellys Manor House

Ellys Manor House
A 16th century wool merchant’s home

We have mentioned in the past the ‘wool churches’ of the south east England, built by medieval wool merchants, but until recently have not heard of any merchant’s houses. We have assumed that these have either been destroyed or altered to such an extent that they are no longer recognisable. However, a chance meeting, just before Christmas at the Celebration of British Livestock, directed us to a house which gives a good indication of the wealth accrued by the 14th to 16th century wool merchants.

The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages

The Hanseatic merchants also carried architectural ideas in their luggage

Clive Taylor lives in an architectural jewel, whose origins can be traced back to the 16th century: Ellys Manor House, originally built by wealthy wool merchants in Lincolnshire, east of Nottingham. The house‘s style reflects the Northern Renaissance, the Renaissance version that spread throughout northern Europe, following the trail of the Hanseatic merchants. Clive Taylor on an otherwise little-known Renaissance style and its history.