Unfolding the Letters of Southwick: Voices from the Seventeenth Century
Every historic house carries traces of the people who lived there. At Southwick Hall, these traces are not only in stone and timber but also in words. Recently, a set of seventeenth-century letters connected with the Lynn family was brought to light in the county archives. Fragile, yellowed with age, and written in a flowing script, these documents open a window onto daily life at the Hall and in the surrounding countryside.
A Chance Discovery
The letters came to notice during research into the estate’s history. Among boxes of deeds and account books lay folded sheets of paper, bound together but long overlooked. Once carefully opened and read, they revealed correspondence between members of the Lynn family and their associates. Though not grand proclamations or state papers, they capture the intimate voice of a household negotiating the challenges of the seventeenth century.
Life at the Hall
One letter, dated 1624, refers to improvements being made to the house itself. A Lynn family member writes of “setting in order the chambers, with plaster and colour, and the fitting of new windows.” Such details may seem mundane, but they remind us that Southwick Hall was a lived-in home, subject to the same …