Holkham Hall, one of the grandest English country houses not only displayed the owners fashionable and cultivated tastes, but was the epicentre of a vast landed estate, providing employment to hundreds

The English country house is generally accepted as a large house or mansion, once in the ownership of an individual who also most likely owned another great house in the West End of London. Hence one moved from one's town house to one's country house. Country houses and stately homes are sometimes confused—while a country house is always in the country, a stately home can also be in a town. Apsley House, built for the Duke of Wellington at the corner of Hyde Park ('No. 1, London' it was called), is one example. Other country houses such as Ascott in Buckinghamshire were deliberately designed not to be stately, and to harmonise with the landscape, while some of the great houses such as Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall were built as "power houses" to impress and dominate the landscape, and were certainly intended to be "stately homes". Today many former "stately homes", while still country houses, are far from stately and most certainly not homes. Holkham Hall, Norfolk. ... Holkham Hall, Norfolk. ... Holkham Hall. ... An Estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. ... In Britain (and also in Ireland) the term country house generally refers to a large house which was built on an agricultural estate as the private residence of the landowner. ... ... Mansion near Almelo, The Netherlands A mansion is a large and stately dwelling house. ... A great house is a large and stately residence; the term encompasses different styles of dwelling in different countries. ... West End is the name of some places in the world, including: The West End of London, England West End Theatre, is where many of Londons major theatres are located and premier cinema screenings take place. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7. ... A stately home is, strictly speaking, one of about 500 large properties built in England between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property (after the Dissolution of the Monasteries). ... Apsley House was the London residence of the First Duke of Wellington and is located at Hyde Park Corner; the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing south. ... The Dukedom of Wellington, derived from Wellington in Somerset, is a hereditary title and the senior Dukedom in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ... The Serpentine, viewed from the eastern end. ... Ascot (or Ascott) is the name of more than one place. ... Kedleston Hall was Brettinghams opportunity to prove himself capable of designing a house to rival Holkham Hall. ... Holkham Hall. ...

The country house was not just a weekend retreat for aristocrats, but often a full time residence for the minor gentry who were a central node in the "squirearchy" that ruled Britain until the Reform Act of 1832 (as documented in The Purefoy Letters, 1735-53 by L G Mitchell). Even some of the formal business of the shire was transacted in the Hall. Before the Industrial Revolution, the gentry was located between the yeomanry and the nobility. ... In the United Kingdom, the Reform Act could refer to various Acts Reform Act 1832 (The First Reform Act or The Great Reform Act), which abolished rotten boroughs and gave representation to previously unrepresented urban areas like Birmingham etc. ... 1832 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Evolution of the English country house

The country houses of England have evolved over the last 500 years. Before this time larger houses were more often than not fortified, reflecting the position of their owners as war lords or at least keepers of the peace. The Tudor period of stability in the country saw the first of the large unfortified mansions. Henry VIII's policy of the dissolution of the monasteries saw many former ecclesiastical properties turned over to the King's favourites, who then converted them into private country houses. Woburn Abbey, Forde Abbey and many other mansions with Abbey or priory in their name often date from this period as private houses. Allegory of the Tudor dynasty (detail), attributed to Lucas de Heere, ca 1572: left to right, Philip II of Spain, Mary, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth The Tudor period usually refers to the historical period between 1485 and 1558, especially in relation to the history of England. ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... The Dissolution of the Monasteries (referred to by Roman Catholic writers as the Suppression of the Monasteries) was the formal process, taking place between 1538 and 1541, by which King Henry VIII confiscated the property of the Roman Catholic monastic institutions in England and took them to himself, as the... This article should be transwikied to wiktionary Ecclesiastical means pertaining to the Church (especially Christianity) as an organized body of believers and clergy, with a stress on its juridical and institutional structure. ... The west front of Woburn Abbey, as seen approaching the house Woburn Abbey, the seat of the head of the Russell Family, the Duke of Bedford, was a sad half-demolished, half-derelict house in 1953 after the death of the heavily indebted 12th Duke. ... An abbey (from the Latin abbatia, which is derived from the Syriac abba, father), is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serve as the spiritual father or mother of the community. ... A priory is an ecclesiastical circumscription run by a prior. ...

It was during the later half of the reign of Elizabeth I and her successor James I that the first architect designed mansions, thought of today as epitomising the English country house, began to make their appearance. Burghley House, Longleat House, and Hatfield House are perhaps amongst the most well known. Hatfield House was one of the first houses in England to show the Italianate influences of the renaissance, which was eventually to see the end of the hinting-at-castle-architecture "turrets and towers" Gothic style. By the reign of Charles I, Inigo Jones and his form of Palladianism had changed the face of British domestic architecture completely. While there were later various Gothic Revival styles, the Palladian style in various forms, interrupted briefly by baroque, was to predominate until the late 18th century. When influenced by ancient Greek styles, it gradually evolved into the neoclassicism championed by such architects as Robert Adam. Elizabeth I Queen of England and Ireland Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603 ) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ... James VI of Scotland and James I of England and Ireland (occasionally known as King James the Vain) (Charles James) (19 June 1566–27 March 1625) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland. ... Burghley House from Jones Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (1819). ... A drawing of Longleat in the early 18th century by Leonard Knyff. ... Hatfield House, located to the east of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, was built in 1611 and is the family seat of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury. ... Charles I (19 November 1600–30 January 1649) was King of Scotland, England and Ireland from 27 March 1625, until his execution. ... Inigo Jones, by Sir Anthony van Dyck Inigo Jones (July 15, 1573–June 21, 1652) is regarded as the first significant English architect. ... A villa with a superimposed portico, from Book IV of Palladios I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura, in a modestly priced English translation published in London, 1736. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint In arts, the Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the style that dominated it. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Kedleston Hall. ...

Some of the best known of England's country houses tend to have been built by one architect at one particular time: Montacute House, Chatsworth House, and Blenheim Palace are examples. It is interesting that while the latter two are ducal palaces, Montacute, although built by a Master of the Rolls to Queen Elizabeth I, spent the next 400 years in the occupation of his descendents who were Gentry without a London townhouse, rather than aristocracy. They finally ran out of funds in the early 20th century. Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... Montacute House, the west front. ... A view of Chatsworth from the south-west in 1880. ... Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ... The term duke is a title of nobility which refers to the sovereign male ruler of a Continental European duchy, to a nobleman of the highest grade of the British peerage, or to the highest rank of nobility in various other European countries, including Portugal, Spain and France (in Italy... The quintessential medieval European palace: Palais de la Cité, in Paris, the royal palace of France. ... The Master of the Rolls is the third most senior judge of England, the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain traditionally being first and the Lord Chief Justice second. ... Leinster House Henrietta Street In the United Kingdom, Ireland and in some other countries, a townhouse was a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

However, the vast majority of the lesser-known English country houses, often owned by both gentry and aristocracy, are an evolution of one or more styles with facades and wings in various styles in a mixture of high architecture, often as interpreted by a local architect or surveyor and determined by practicality as much as the whims of architectural taste. An example might be Brympton d'Evercy in Somerset, a house of many periods that is unified architecturally by the continuing use of the same mellow local Ham Hill stone. The word facade (or façade) can mean one of several things. ... Brympton d Evercy, Somerset, England. ...

The fashionable William Kent redesigned Rousham House only to have it quickly and drastically altered to accommodate space for the owners twelve children. Canons Ashby, home to poet John Dryden's family, exemplifies this: a medieval farmhouse enlarged in the Tudor era around a courtyard, given grandiose plaster ceilings in the Stewart period and then given Georgian facades in the 18th century. The whole is a glorious mismatch of styles and fashions which seamlessly blend together—this could be called the true English country house. Wilton House, one of England's grandest houses, is in a remarkably similar vein. Except while the Drydens, mere squires, at Canons Ashby employed a local architect, at Wilton the mighty Earls of Pembroke employed the finest architects of the day: first Holbein, a 150 years later Inigo Jones, and then Wyatt followed by Chambers. Each employed a different style of architecture, seemingly unaware of the design of the wing around the next corner. These varying "improvements", often criticised at the time, today are the qualities which make English country houses unique. No where else in the world would an elite class have allowed, or indeed pursued, such an indifference to style. William Kent (born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, c. ... Rousham House is a Jacobean style country house in Oxfordshire, England. ... Canons Ashby is a village in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. ... Poets are authors of poems, or of other forms of poetry such as dramatic verse. ... John Dryden John Dryden (August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and playwright. ... Stewart is a common surname and male first name. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Jones and de Causs South Front and the Palladian Bridge (1736/7), in a view of circa 1820 Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. ... The Earldom of Pembroke, associated with Pembroke Castle in Wales, was created by King Stephen of England. ... Hans Holbein is the name of two German Renaissance painters: Hans Holbein the Elder (1460-1524) Hans Holbein the Younger (c. ...

Power houses and family homes

15th century: Compton Wynyates Today the private residence of the family who built it, was one of the last houses in England to be laid siege in the 17th century

The inhabitants of the English country house have become collectively referred to as the Ruling class, because this is exactly what they did in varying degrees, whether by holding high political influence and power in national government or in the day-to-day running of their own localities in such offices as magistrates, or occasionally even clergy. These aristocrats continued, in diminishing degrees, to frequently hold the highest offices until well into the second half of the 20th century. Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Alec Douglas-Home were the last Prime Ministers to spring from this class. So necessary was the country house deemed to be that following the election of the first Labour Government in 1921, Viscount Lee of Fareham donated his country house Chequers to the nation for the use of a Prime Minister who might not possess one of his own. Chequers still fulfils that need today as do both Chevening House and Dorneywood country houses, donated for sole use of high-ranking ministers of the crown. Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire This is an old photograph probably late 1920s. ... Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire This is an old photograph probably late 1920s. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, circa 1925 Compton Wynyates is a country house in Warwickshire, England. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... A magistrate is a civil or criminal (or both) judicial officer with limited authority to administer and enforce the law. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... Aristocracy is a form of government in which rulership is in the hands of an upper class known as aristocrats. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... The Right Honourable Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT,1 PC (2 July 1903–9 October 1995), 14th Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British politician, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a year from October 1963 to October... Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister A prime minister may be either: chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the... Arthur Hamilton Lee, 1st Viscount Lee of Fareham (1868-1947) was a British soldier, diplomat, politician and administrator serving in Canada and the USA. His wife Ruth was the daughter of a New York banker, and the couple were prominent in New England society. ... Chequers, or Chequers Court, is a large house to the south east of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. ... Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister A prime minister may be either: chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the... Chevening, also known as Chevening House, is a country house in Chevening, Kent, in the United Kingdom. ... Dorneywood is a moderately large Queen Anne style house built in 1920, near Burnham in Buckinghamshire. ...

Zenith of the English country house

During the 18th and 19th centuries to the highest echelons of British society the country house served as a place for relaxing, hunting and running the country with one's equals at the end of the week. However, there were many Squires who lived permanently on their country estates, seldom visiting London at all. The country house was the centre of its own world, providing employment to literally hundreds of people in the vicinity of its estate. In previous eras when state benefits were unheard of, those working on an estate were among the most fortunate, receiving secured employment and rent-free accommodation. At the summit of these fortunate people was the indoor staff of the country house. Until the 20th century, unlike many of their contemporaries, they slept in proper beds, wore well-made adequate clothes and received three proper meals a day, plus a small wage. In an era when many still died for lack of medicine or malnutrition, the long working hours were a small price to pay. The film Gosford Park, the reality series The Edwardian Country House and some episodes of the TV series Upstairs, Downstairs accurately recreated the stratified and repressed but secure atmosphere of the English country house just surviving into the age of the automobile. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In medieval times a squire was a man-at-arms in the service of a knight, often as his apprentice. ... An Estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... See drugs, medication, and pharmacology for substances that are used to treat patients. ... Look up film in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Movie poster for Gosford Park Gosford Park is a 2001 film, directed by Robert Altman. ... The Edwardian Country House was an acclaimed British miniseries in the reality tv genre. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Logo for British television series Upstairs, Downstairs. ...

Many aristocrats owned more than one country house and would visit each according to the season: Grouse shooting in Scotland, pheasant shooting and fox hunting in England. The Earl of Rosebery, for instance, had Dalmeny in Scotland, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire and another near Epsom just for the racing season. Genera Tetrao Lagopus Falcipennis Centrocercus Bonasa Dendrapagus Tympanuchus Grouse Slang for something not nice or chat.... haha Grouse are from the order Galliformes which inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere. ... ... Genera Ithaginis Catreus Rheinartia Crossoptilon Lophura Argusianus Pucrasia Syrmaticus Chrysolophus Phasianus † See also partridge, quail Pheasants are a group of large birds in the order Galliformes. ... A fox hunt Fox hunting is a form of hunting for foxes using a pack of scent hounds. ... The title Earl of Rosebery was created in the Peerage of Scotland for Archibald Primrose, 1st Viscount of Rosebery. ... Dalmeny, a large baronial mansion and estate on the Firth of Forth, just outside Edinburgh, is the home of the Earl and Countess of Rosebery. ... Mentmore Towers is a large English country house in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. ... Map of Bucks (1904) Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a county in South East England. ... Epsom is a town adjoining Ewell in the Epsom and Ewell borough of Surrey in South East England and near to the southern boundary of Greater London. ...

Decline

The slow decline of the English country house coincided with the rise of modern industry, which provided alternate means of employment for large numbers of people and contributed to upwardly mobile middle classes, but its ultimate demise began immediately following World War I. The huge staff required to maintain them had either left to fight and never return, departed to work in the munitions factories, or to fulfil the void left by the fighting men in other workplaces. Of those who returned with the cessation of war, many left the countryside for better-paid jobs in towns. The final blow for many country houses came following World War II; having been requisitioned during the war, they were returned to the owners in poor repair. Many of whom having lost their heirs, if not in the immediately preceding war then in World War I, were now paying far higher rates of tax, and agricultural incomes from the accompanying estates had dropped. Thus, the solution appeared to be to demolish the house and sell its stone, fireplaces, and panelling. And this is exactly what happened to many of Britain's finest houses. The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... Clockwise from top: Trenches in frontline, a British Mark I Tank crossing a trench, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the battle of the Dardanelles, a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks and a Sopwith Camel biplane. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as the largest and deadliest... A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e. ... A fireplace with a burning fire. ... Panelling is a wallcovering constructed from interlocking wooden components. ...

Today in Britain, country houses provide for a variety of needs. Many such as Montacute House, West Wycombe Park and Lyme Park are owned by public bodies, including the National Trust, and are open to the public as museums as part of the so-called "Stately home industry". Some, including Wilton House and Chatsworth House, and many smaller houses such as Pencarrow in Cornwall and Rousham House in Oxfordshire are still owned by the families who built them, retain their treasures and are open during summer months to the public. Fewer still are owned by the original families and are not open to the public: Compton Wynyates is one. Easton Neston in Northamptonshire, one of the last of the architecturally important country houses never to have been opened to public viewing, has just (2004) been offered for sale by Lord Hesketh. Montacute House, the west front. ... West Wycombe Park is a country house near the village of West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. ... The south front of Lyme Park, Cheshire as rebuilt by Giacomo Leoni. ... The standard of the National Trust The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as The National Trust, NT or The Trust, is an organisation which works to preserve and protect coastline, countryside and buildings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. ... A stately home is, strictly speaking, one of about 500 large properties built in England between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property (after the Dissolution of the Monasteries). ... Jones and de Causs South Front and the Palladian Bridge (1736/7), in a view of circa 1820 Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. ... A view of Chatsworth from the south-west in 1880. ... Pencarrow A stately house in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom, Pencarrow is situated between Bodmin and Wadebridge, the house is approached down a long drive, almost 1 mile long. ... Motto: Onan hag oll (Cornish: One and all) Cornwall, England Geography Status Ceremonial and (smaller) Non-metropolitan county Region South West England Population - Total (2004 est. ... Rousham House is a Jacobean style country house in Oxfordshire, England. ... Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from Latin Oxonia) is a county in south-east England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire. ... Treasure is a concentration of riches, often that which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered. ... Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, circa 1925 Compton Wynyates is a country house in Warwickshire, England. ... Easton Neston is a country house near Towcester (pronounced Toaster) in Northamptonshire, England. ... Northamptonshire (abbreviated Northants or Nhants) is a landlocked county in central England with a population of 629,676 (2001 census). ... Baron Hesketh is a peerage title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ...

Today's English country house

The majority have fallen to the deprivations of modern life and become schools, hospitals, and prisons. Reduced from being "Stately Homes", they are neither stately nor homes. Many, for example, Cliveden and Hartwell House, have become luxury hotels and many more less luxurious hotels. These are among the fortunate few. In Britain during the 1950s and early 1960s, thousands of country houses were demolished. A school is most commonly a place designated for learning. ... A physician visiting the sick in a hospital. ... Home is a place where a person lives, perhaps spends much of the time, or where a person is comfortable to be. ... Cliveden is a mansion in Berkshire (though until the county borders changed in 1974 it was in Buckinghamshire) with an intriguing history. ... Hartwell is a village in central Buckinghamshire, England. ... A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging, usually on a short-term basis and especially for tourists. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Today owning a "Country House" can be a mixed blessing. Usually listed as a building of historic interest, they can only be maintained under Government supervision, often interpreted by the owners as interference as it is usually the most costly method that the Government inspectors insist upon. This system does, however, ensure that all work is correctly and authentically done. The negative side is that many owners cannot afford the work, so a roof remains leaking for the sake of a cheap roof tile. A roof tiled in imitation of thatch at Croyde, north Devon, England Rooftops in Vietnam A roof is the top covering of a building that sheds rain or snow, keeping the building interior dry. ... Mission, or barrel, roof tiles For the towns named Tile, see Tile, Somalia and Tile, Lebanon. ...

For all the hardships of owning a country house, many people still aspire to own one. Those that do often labour night and day to retain the houses they feel privileged to have inherited.

Reference

• Girouard, Mark. Life in the English Country House : a social and architectural history details the impact of social change on design