Fairlawne is a Grade I listed house in Shipbourne, Kent, England, about 30 miles southeast of central London. The Fairlawne Estate is extensive and stretches to Plaxtol.
Fairlawne is a Grade I listed house in Shipbourne, Kent, England, about 30 miles southeast of central London. The Fairlawne Estate is extensive and stretches to Plaxtol.
Fairlawne was rebuilt for Sir Henry Vane the Elder in 1630–55, based on an earlier house. [1] Succeeding generations built additions to the house that were completed in 1723 with the help of James Gibbs, architect of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Ditchley House, and other notable buildings. More additions were made to Fairlawne in the Victorian era, but these were removed in 1954. [2]
In 1722, the poet Christopher Smart was born on the Fairlawne (spelt Fairlawn at that time) estate, where his father, Peter Smart, was the estate steward and Christopher was a playmate of the Vane children. After Peter died in 1733, the Vane family furthered his education by gifts and bequests, enabling him to attend Durham School in northeast England, where he spent his vacations at nearby Raby Castle, another home belonging to the Vanes. The poet had fond memories of Fairlawne, whose remembered beauties are praised in his poems The Hop-Garden and Jubilate Agno . [3]
Lord William Vane was the last Vane to live at Fairlawne, and upon his death the estate passed to his cousin David Papillon who never took up residence there. Papillon sold the estate to a London Merchant, John Ridgway who owned the estate until 1824. [4]
In 1824 the estate was bought by John Yates, a cotton spinner from Lancashire. In 1835 Fairlawne passed to Marianne Yates in trust and following her death in 1845 the estate was sold to Joseph Ridgway. The Ridgways continued to live at Fairlawne until 1871. [4]
The estate was bought by the "merchant squire" Edward Cazalet in 1871, and descended to his only son, William Marshall Cazalet (1865-1932), and in turn to his son, Major Peter Cazalet (b. 1907), who was trainer of the Queen Mother's racehorses, which were stabled at the estate for more than twenty years until his death in 1973. [5] The Queen Mother was a frequent visitor to Fairlawne since before World War I, when she was a childhood friend of Peter's sister, Thelma Cazalet. [6] Peter's first wife was Leonora, adopted daughter of the novelist P. G. Wodehouse. [7] Other famous friends and visitors to Fairlawne in the 1950s and 1960s included Noël Coward, Elizabeth Taylor, the historian Elizabeth Longford, and her husband Frank Longford, the Labour peer. [8] [9]
Upon Peter's death in 1973, Fairlawne was inherited by his eldest son, Edward Cazalet. He was unable to continue the racing stable due to his career as a barrister and later a High Court judge. In 1979, Fairlawne was sold to racehorse owner Prince Khalid Abdullah. [10] [11]
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was concurrently the last Empress of India until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947. After her husband died, she was officially known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than any of her predecessors, is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.
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Shipbourne is a village and civil parish situated between the towns of Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in the English county of Kent. In 2020 it was named as the most expensive village in Kent.
Christopher Vane, 1st Baron Barnard, was an English peer. He served in Parliament for Durham after his brother, Thomas, died 4 days after being elected the MP for Durham. Then, again from January 1689 to November 1690 for Boroughbridge. He served in the Commons as a Whig collaborator during the passage of the Bill of Rights which his father, Sir Henry Vane the Younger, had fought for religious and civil liberty before his beheading in 1662. He is known for his disputes with his heirs and for employing Peter Smart, father of the poet Christopher Smart, as a steward.
Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud was a member of the House of Saud. He had extensive business interests, run through Mawarid Holding, but is probably best known as the owner of Juddmonte Farms. As such, he was one of the leading figures in the world of thoroughbred horseracing and the list of outstanding horses to have competed in his racing colours includes Arrogate, Dancing Brave, Enable, Frankel, and Mandaloun.
Lara Imogen Leonora Cazalet is an English actress, known for portraying Zandra Plackett in Bad Girls and Annie Quick in New Street Law.
Colonel Victor Alexander Cazalet, MC was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for nineteen years. He came from a prominent, wealthy English family.
Plaxtol is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The village is located around 5 miles (8 km) north of Tonbridge and the same distance east of Sevenoaks. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1,117.
William Morgan Fletcher-Vane, 1st Baron Inglewood, TD, was a British Conservative Party politician.
Thelma Cazalet-Keir CBE was a British feminist and Conservative Party politician.
Anthony Bingham Mildmay, 2nd Baron Mildmay of Flete was an English amateur steeplechaser, who raced in the Grand National. He also inspired the Queen Mother's interest in National Hunt racing.
The River Bourne rises in the parish of Ightham, Kent and flows in a generally south easterly direction through the parishes of Borough Green, Platt, Plaxtol, West Peckham, Hadlow, and East Peckham where it joins the River Medway. In the 18th century the river was known as the Busty or Buster, the Shode or Sheet, but is not known by these names nowadays. A bourne is a type of stream, while shode means a branch of a river.
Sir Henry Vane, known as the Elder to distinguish him from his son, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1654. He served King Charles in many posts including secretary of state, but on the outbreak of the English Civil War joined the Parliamentary cause. He was the third cousin of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland.
The wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon took place on 26 April 1923 at Westminster Abbey. The bride was a member of the Bowes-Lyon family, while the groom was the second son of King George V.
William Vane, 1st Viscount Vane, of Fairlawn, Kent, was a British Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1734.
Peter Victor Ferdinand Cazalet DL was a British cricketer, jockey, racehorse owner and trainer from Shipbourne, Kent. He played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and the Marylebone Cricket Club. He served in the Guards Armoured Division during the Second World War, reaching the rank of Major. Post-war, he trained many horses owned by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and other notable owners. He was British jump racing Champion Trainer on three occasions.
Sir Edward Stephen Cazalet DL is a retired judge of the High Court of England and Wales.
William Marshall Cazalet was a wealthy British landowner who represented Great Britain at the 1908 Olympic Games in jeu de paume.
Edward Cazalet, was a British merchant and industrialist.
Media related to Fairlawne House, Plaxtol at Wikimedia Commons