Eythrope (previously Ethorp) is a hamlet and country house in the parish of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located to the south east of the main village of Waddesdon. It was bought in the 1870s by a branch of the Rothschild family, and belongs to them to this day.
Eythrope is Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England, and its gardens are also grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [1] [2]
The hamlet name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means "island farm", referring to an island in the River Thame that flows by the hamlet. The medieval village of Eythrope is deserted and all that remains are some earthen banks and ditches on the eastern side of Eythrope Park. There was a manor house at this hamlet as early as 1309, when it was the home of the Arches family. One former owner, Sir Roger Dynham, built a chantry chapel on what is now the site of the pavilion. This was demolished by Sir William Stanhope in the 1730s.
The mansion was extended in 1610 by Dorothy Pelham, (One source says Sir William Dormer [3] ) this was her house from her first marriage. Her second husband William Pelham styled himself as "from Eythorpe", but this was more true of Dorothy who had her own financial independence. [4]
William Stanhope (1702–1772) embellished Eythrope House around 1750. Stanhope employed Isaac Ware to build new stables (now lost) and follies in the garden and park. Two of these buildings survive: the grotto by the lake, and the bridge over the River Thame. The house was demolished in 1810-11 by Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield. [5]
In 1875, the manor at Eythrope was bought by Alice de Rothschild. She was the sister and companion of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild who owned the neighboring estate Waddesdon Manor. The new house at Eythrope was not built on the site of the old manor. While building was in progress Alice fell ill with rheumatic fever and was advised to avoid damp conditions at night. As Eythrope was next to the river Thame, the plans were altered. The house was built without bedrooms as a place to house her collections and entertain guests during the day. [6]
Alice chose one of the Rothschild family's favourite architects George Devey who had worked at nearby Ascott House, Aston Clinton House and in the villages belonging to the Mentmore Estate. Eythrope was something of a deviation from his usual approach. It is constructed in red brick with stone dressings. With its twisting chimneys, turrets and gables, it is a mixture of Devey's usual Jacobean style and the French Renaissance architecture of Waddesdon Manor. This is especially noticeable on the concave roof to the round tower, and the gable on the garden facade which are particularly reminiscent of Waddesdon. Because of its small size the house was christened "The Pavilion" or the "Water Pavilion". [7]
As in other Rothschild homes, French panelling and furniture dressed the rooms. Alice also collected Renaissance sculpture, paintings and maiolica ware.
Around the house, Alice developed 30 acres of highly ornamental and innovative gardens that complemented the splendour of Waddesdon Manor. She also created a four-acre walled kitchen garden and added an Old English Tea House (now lost) to the historic parkland. [8] A large, rectangular stable block (listed grade II), built in stone and half-timber, and three picturesque lodges, were probably designed by W Taylor & Son of Bierton. [9] House parties from Waddesdon Manor would drive the four miles for tea, taking a steam launch up the river to the tea house. [10]
In 1922 following Alice's death, The Pavilion was inherited by James Armand de Rothschild and his wife Dorothy. From 1922 to around 1939, they let it to Syrie Maugham, the estranged wife of Somerset Maugham. She added bedrooms and bathrooms to the Pavilion, but by 1957 the wing was structurally unsound. In the 1957, James de Rothschild bequeathed Waddesdon Manor, which he had inherited, to the National Trust. His widow, Dorothy, then moved to the smaller pavilion and made substantial alterations and enlargements in a solid late Victorian/Edwardian architectural style which complemented the original building. [11]
Dorothy de Rothschild died in 1988 leaving the estate and Pavilion to her husband's great nephew, Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild. The Pavilion, the private home of Lord Rothschild, is the only one of the Buckinghamshire Rothschilds seven houses to remain in Rothschild hands.
The gardens continue to be developed and maintained, growing vegetables, fruit and flowers for the estate. The walled garden was redesigned by Lady Mary Keen in 1990. [12] Keen created several gardens at different levels within the four acre walled garden. These included a large vegetable garden, a herb garden, Mediterranean pot garden, rose garden and a long late flowering herbaceous border which runs as an artery through the gardens. A large Victorian glasshouse recreated on the foundations of an earlier glass house is used for the forcing of early cherries. Five further glasshouses are used for a variety of flowering plants and succulents and, in the summer, for growing several varieties of tomato.
Scenes from And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, screened on BBC One from 26 to 28 December 2015, were filmed on the Estate roads and on the bridge at Eythrope.
In the 19th century members of the English Rothschild family bought and built many country houses in the home counties, furnishing them with the art the family collected. The area of the Vale of Aylesbury, where many of the houses were situated, became known as Rothchildshire. In the 20th century many of these properties were sold off with their art collections dispersed. Today only Eythrope House still belong to the family however they still rentain influence in how Ascott House and Waddesdon Manor are managed. However in the loss of country houses in the 20th century only Aston Clinton was lost.
Haddenham is a village and civil parish in west Buckinghamshire, England. It is about 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Aylesbury and 4 miles (6 km) north-east of Thame in neighbouring Oxfordshire. At the 2011 Census, the population of the civil parish was 4,502.
Ascott is a hamlet and country house in the parish of Wing, Buckinghamshire, England. The hamlet lies completely within the boundary of the Ascott Estate; it is home to many of the estate and house staff.
Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation, it is one of the National Trust's most visited properties, with over 463,000 visitors in 2019.
Waddesdon is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) west-north-west of Aylesbury on the A41 road. The village also includes the hamlets of Eythrope and Wormstone. Waddesdon was an agricultural settlement with milling, silk weaving and lace making enterprises.
Ascott House, sometimes referred to as simply Ascott, is a Grade II* listed building in the hamlet of Ascott near Wing in Buckinghamshire, England. It is set in a 32-acre / 13 hectare estate.
Mentmore is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about three miles east of Wingrave, three miles south east of Wing.
Mentmore Towers, historically known simply as "Mentmore", is a 19th-century English country house built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George Henry Stokes, designed the building in the 19th-century revival of late 16th and early 17th-century Elizabethan and Jacobean styles called Jacobethan. The house was designed for the banker and collector of fine art Baron Mayer de Rothschild as a country home, and as a display case for his collection of fine art. The mansion has been described as one of the greatest houses of the Victorian era. Mentmore was inherited by Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery, née Rothschild, and owned by her descendants, the Earls of Rosebery.
Wingrave is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, about four miles north east of Aylesbury and three miles south west of Wing.
Halton House is a country house in the Chiltern Hills above the village of Halton in Buckinghamshire, England. It was built for Alfred Freiherr de Rothschild between 1880 and 1883. It is used as the main officers' mess for RAF Halton and is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.
Aston Clinton House was a large mansion to the south-east of the village of Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, England.
George Devey was an English architect notable for his work on country houses and their estates, especially those belonging to the Rothschild family. The second son of Frederick and Ann Devey, he was born and educated in London.
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild,, was a British peer, investment banker and member of the Rothschild banking family. Rothschild held important roles in business and British public life, and was active in charitable and philanthropic areas.
Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, also known as Ferdinand James Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild, was a British banker, art collector and politician who was a member of the Rothschild family of bankers. He identified as a Liberal, later Liberal Unionist, and sat as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1898. Ferdinand had a younger sister, Alice, who like her brother was a keen horticulturalist and collector. She inherited Ferdinand's property, Waddesdon Manor, in 1898 after he died and likewise continued the tradition of using the house as a place to keep his collections.
Waddesdon Church of England School is a mixed secondary school in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire. In September 2011 the school became an Academy. It takes children from the age of 11 through to the age of 18 and has approximately 1000 pupils, including a sixth form of approximately 200 students. It is a Church of England school and is the only CofE secondary school in Buckinghamshire. It is administered by the Oxford Diocese.
James Armand Edmond de Rothschild DCM DL, sometimes known as Jimmy de Rothschild, was a British Liberal politician and philanthropist, from the wealthy Rothschild international banking dynasty.
Dorothy de Rothschild was an English philanthropist and activist for Jewish affairs who married into the wealthy Rothschild banking family.
The Rothschild banking family of England is the English branch of the Rothschild family. It was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836), who first settled in Manchester before moving to London, England, which was then part of the Kingdom of Great Britain. He was sent there from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812). Wanting his sons to succeed on their own and to expand the family business across Europe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild had his eldest son remain in Frankfurt, while his four other sons were sent to different European cities to establish a financial institution to invest in business and provide banking services. Nathan Mayer Rothschild, the third son, first established a textile jobbing business in Manchester and from there went on to establish N M Rothschild & Sons bank in London.
Alice Charlotte von Rothschild, otherwise referred to as 'Miss Alice', was a socialite and member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. Born in Frankfurt, she was the eighth and youngest child of Anselm von Rothschild (1803–1874) and Charlotte Rothschild (1807–1859) and younger sister of the British politician, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. She was quite young when her family moved to Vienna, where her father took over the management of the family-owned S M von Rothschild bank.
Hon. Sir William Stanhope (1702–72), of Eythrope, Buckinghamshire, was an English landowner and opposition Whig politician, who sat in the House of Commons for 35 years between 1727 and 1768. Afflicted with deafness and ill-health, he travelled frequently and was often absent from Parliament.
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