Island Hall

Island Hall is an important mid-18th century mansion, located on the banks of the Great Ouse in the centre of Godmanchester. This family home has Georgian rooms with fine period detail and interesting possessions relating to the owners’ ancestors since their first occupation of the house in 1800. Godmanchester was, in Roman times, a major settlement at an important crossroads and became one of England’s earliest boroughs when it was awarded its charter in 1212. Beyond is Portholme, reputedly the largest water meadow in Britain and an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Island Hall has approximately one and a half acres of formal garden with a large river frontage and a further two-acre ornamental river island – from which the Hall takes its name – linked to the mainland by a Chinese bridge.

Today, Island Hall is home to Grace Vane Percy, her husband and young family. Her father Christopher Vane Percy leads the tours. Eight generations of his ancestors lived in this finely proportioned, intimate, Georgian family house and he was responsible for bringing the family back here. The house has endured much since its WWII requestioning and subsequent compulsory purchase for emergency housing, but following a major fire in the late 1970s, the council felt it was time to release the historic derelict structure.

Christopher Vane Percy, one of the country’s leading interior designers, began his restoration in the early 1980s: not only has it been renovated, but also redecorated in the Georgian style. Key features such as the 18th-century cupola over the stables and the Chinese bridge have been reconstructed. The long task of returning to the garden and island to the vision of the “stillest repose” which Octavia Hill enjoyed is now well advanced. She saw the house as a reminder “of what that deep attachment is to an inherited spot of old earth, rich with memories of days long ago”. “By some miracle, that attachment has endured”, Michael Hall, Country Life.

Even today the work continues. Building on the past, the renovation and restoration, as well as maintenance, are always at the forefront. The house enjoys hosting visitors, not only to support this historic building, but also to share the house and grounds with great pride.

The tours feature the ground floor rooms of the house, plus three first floor rooms and a guided tour of the grounds. Candlelit tours in November and December.

Tours that are scheduled will be listed below. If none are scheduled yet, please check back later, or find other tours you might enjoy on our tours listing page he