Deene Park, the seat of the Brudenell family since 1514, [1] is a country manor located 5 miles (8 kilometres) north-east of Corby in the county of Northamptonshire, England. The hall itself is a Grade I listed building dating back to the 14th century which has been modified several times since then to create the current structure. [2]
Seven of the Brudenell family were Earls of Cardigan – the most notable being the 7th Earl who led the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava (1854). The 7th Earl died childless in 1868, and while the Earldom of Cardigan merged with the Marquessate of Ailesbury, the Deene Park estate passed, after the death in 1915 of his widow, to the descendants of his second cousin Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury. [3]
The estate was inherited by its current owner, Robert Brudenell, in 2014; he is the son of Edmund and Marian Brudenell, who devoted their lives to the rehabilitation of Deene Park and are largely responsible for the estate's present appearance. [4] They are descended from the 3rd Marquess's son Commodore Lord Robert Brudenell-Bruce RN. Lord Robert's son George, Edmund's father, inherited the family seat along with the family's remaining estates in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, [5] and reverted the family name back to "Brudenell" by Royal Licence. [6]
The manor of Deene belonged to Westminster Abbey; annual rent of £18 was paid until 1970. [7] The manor house has been expanded around its courtyard from its sixteenth-century core, represented by its great hall, which was given its screen panelling and fireplace in 1571. [8] The early 19th-century Bow Room contains the Brudenell library, collected in the 16th century by Sir Thomas Tresham and his son-in-law, Sir Thomas Brudenell, 1st Earl of Cardigan, though the collection no longer includes the manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales [9] or the last copy of Magna Carta in private hands. [10] [11]
The house contains furnishings of different periods and portraits, including works by Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. Relics of the Crimean War include the uniforms of Lord Cardigan and the head and tail of his charger, Ronald.
The large gardens designed by David Nightingale Hicks feature a parterre overlooking the lake, and a newly planted avenue.
The manor is located in the countryside not far from the Harringworth Viaduct and is surrounded by historic villages and hamlets. St Peter's Church, Deene, in the grounds, has the funeral monuments of the Brudenells.
Throughout the 1990s, Deene Park hosted the annual August bank holiday Greenbelt Festival.
Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan,, styled as Lord Cardigan, was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, leading its charge at the Battle of Balaclava.
Marquess of Ailesbury, in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 17 July 1821 for Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury.
Earl of Cardigan is a title in the Peerage of England, currently held by the Marquesses of Ailesbury, and used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to that Marquessate, currently David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan, son of the 8th Marquess. The Brudenell family descends from Sir Robert Brudenell, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1520 to 1530. His great-grandson, Sir Thomas Brudenell, was created a Baronet in the Baronetage of England, styled "of Deene in the County of Northampton", on 29 June 1611. On 26 February 1628, he was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Brudenell, of Stanton Wyvill in the County of Leicester, and on 20 April 1661 he was further honoured when he was made Earl of Cardigan, also in the Peerage of England. On his death, the titles passed to his son, Robert, the 2nd Earl, and on the 2nd Earl's death to his grandson, George, the 3rd Earl, the 2nd Earl's only son, Francis, Lord Brudenell, having predeceased his father.
The title of Duke of Montagu has been created twice, firstly for the Montagu family of Boughton, Northamptonshire, and secondly for the Brudenell family, Earls of Cardigan. It was first created in the Peerage of England in 1705 for Ralph Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Boughton, with the subsidiary title Marquess of Monthermer, but became extinct in 1749. The 1st Duke had been created Earl of Montagu and Viscount Monthermer in 1689. The Dukedom was then recreated in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1766 for the late Duke's son-in-law George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan, who adopted the surname of Montagu. On his death in 1790 the dukedom and marquessate became extinct a second time, but the earldom passed to his brother, James Brudenell, 5th Earl of Cardigan.
George William Frederick Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Lord Bruce between 1814 and 1821 and Earl Bruce between 1821 and 1856, was a British peer, Liberal politician and courtier.
George Montagu, Duke of Montagu KG, PC, FRS styled Lord Brudenell until 1732 and known as the Earl of Cardigan between 1732 and 1766, was a British peer.
James Brudenell, 5th Earl of Cardigan, styled The Honourable James Brudenell until 1780 and known as The Lord Brudenell between 1780 and 1790, was a British courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1780, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Brudenell.
Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenham Park estate.
Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, styled The Honourable Charles Brudenell-Bruce from birth until 1783, Lord Bruce from 1783 to 1814 and The Earl of Ailesbury from 1814 to 1821, was a British peer and politician.
George William Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 4th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Viscount Savernake from 1878 to 1886, was the son of George John Brudenell-Bruce and Lady Evelyn Mary Craven, and succeeded his grandfather as 4th Marquess on the latter's death on 18 October 1886. On his death in 1894 he was succeeded in the marquessate, and his other titles, by his uncle. According to family records, he went by the name William and was known informally as Willie.
Chandos Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, 7th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Earl of Cardigan or Lord Cardigan between 1911 and 1961, was a British peer.
Michael Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Viscount Savernake until 1961 and Earl of Cardigan between 1961 and 1974, is a Scottish peer.
David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan, is the heir apparent to the marquessate of Ailesbury, and its subsidiary titles. These include Earl of Cardigan, which he currently uses as his courtesy title.
Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury, KT, styled The Honourable Thomas Brudenell until 1747 and known as The Lord Bruce of Tottenham between 1747 and 1776, was a British courtier.
St Peter's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Deene, Northamptonshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of The Churches Conservation Trust and East Northamptonshire Council.
George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan, styled Lord Brudenell between 1698 and 1703, was a British peer.
Thomas Brudenell, 1st Earl of Cardigan, known as Sir Thomas Brudenell, Bt, between 1611 and 1628 and as The Lord Brudenell between 1628 and 1661, was an English peer and Royalist soldier.
Commodore Lord Robert Thomas Brudenell-Bruce was a British Commodore of the Royal Navy.
The Ailesbury Mausoleum situated in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Maulden, in Bedfordshire, is a Grade II listed structure built in 1656 by Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin (1599–1663), of nearby Houghton House in the parish of Maulden, for the purpose of housing the coffin and "splendid monument" of his second wife, Lady Diana Cecil, a daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter and widow of Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford. In the opinion of the architectural historian Sir Howard Colvin (1991) it is one of the first two free-standing mausoleums ever built in England, together with the Cabell Mausoleum at Buckfastleigh in Devon.
Elizabeth Brudenell, Countess of Cardigan, formerly Lady Elizabeth Bruce, was an English noblewoman and a petitioner for the foundation of the Foundling Hospital in London. Her husband was George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan, and she was the mother of the 4th Earl, who later became 1st Duke of Montagu.