Gorhambury House is a Palladian-style house near St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It was built between 1777 and 1784 to replace Old Gorhambury House, which was left to fall into ruin. [1]
It was designed by Sir Robert Taylor and commissioned by James Grimston, 3rd Viscount Grimston. Grimston's son was made Earl of Verulam, and the building is currently the home of the 7th Earl of Verulam. [2]
Features of interest inside include a fireplace designed by Piranesi. The house is Grade II* listed. [3] It is a member of Historic Houses Association and is open for tours at certain times. [4]
The surrounding estate includes much of the site of the Roman city of Verulamium. [5]
Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, although due to ploughing on the privately owned agricultural half of the city a lot of damage has been done, as proven by parts of mosaic floors that have been found on the surface, and results of ground penetrating radar show outlines of buildings as smudges rather than clearly defined walls like those protected by the parkland. Part of the Roman city has been built upon, such as St Michael's church and other parts along the centre of the medieval village. The major ancient Roman route Watling Street passed through the city. Much of the site and its environs is now a scheduled monument.
Earl of Verulam is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for James Grimston, 4th Viscount Grimston. He was made Viscount Grimston at the same time. Verulam had previously represented St Albans in the House of Commons. In 1808 he had also succeeded his maternal cousin as tenth Lord Forrester. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl.
The title Baron Verulam was created in two separate and unrelated instances:
Redbournbury Mill, is a Grade II* listed flour mill in Redbournbury, Hertfordshire, England, which is thought to have been first built in the early 11th Century. Having operated as a watermill on the River Ver, the mill is now powered by a diesel engine.
Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1685 and was Speaker in 1660. During the English Civil War he remained a Parliamentarian but was sympathetic to the Royalists.
Sopwell Priory was a Benedictine nunnery founded around 1140 on the site of an ancient hermitage in Sopwell, Hertfordshire, England. After the Dissolution, the priory was torn down and a Tudor manor house constructed in its place.
Westwick Row is a place in Hertfordshire, in England. It is situated on the edge of Hemel Hempstead.
Verulamium Park is a park in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Set in over 100 acres (0.40 km2) of parkland, Verulamium Park was purchased from the Earl of Verulam in 1929 by the then City Corporation. Today the park is owned and operated by St Albans City and District Council.
Old Gorhambury House located near St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, is a ruined Elizabethan mansion, a leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house.
James Walter Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam, styled Lord Dunboyne from 1775 until 1808 and known as the 4th Viscount Grimston from 1808 to 1815, was a British peer and politician.
James Walter Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam, known as Viscount Grimston from 1815 to 1845, was a British peer and Conservative politician. He was the eldest son of James Walter Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam, and Lady Charlotte Jenkinson. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Verulam in November 1845.
James Walter Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam, known as Viscount Grimston from 1852 to 1895, was a British Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1892. He inherited his peerage in 1895.
John Grimston, 6th Earl of Verulam, styled the Honourable John Grimston until 1960, was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament (MP).
James Bucknall Grimston, 3rd Viscount Grimston was a British peer, born the heir to his Irish peerage, and Member of Parliament whose service in Parliament for seven years led to his, and his male descendants', ennoblement into the Peerage of Great Britain.
There have been two baronetcies created for persons with the surname Grimston, once in the Baronetage of England and once in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. One creation is extant as of 2010.
James Walter Grimston, 4th Earl of Verulam was a British peer, electrical engineer and businessman, sometimes identified with the fringes of the intelligence service.
Kingsbury Watermill is a Grade II listed former watermill on the River Ver in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England.
Sir Samuel Grimston, 3rd Baronet of Gorhambury House, Hertfordshire was an English politician.
St Michael is a civil parish in the St Albans district in Hertfordshire, England. The parish is named after but no longer includes St Michael's Church in St Albans. Historically the parish covered part of the city and the rural hinterland to the north-west of it. The parish was split in 1894 with the part outside the city becoming St Michael Rural, which was renamed St Michael in 1974. The main settlement in the modern parish is Childwickbury. The population in 2021 was 498.
The Six Bells is a public house in St Michael's Street in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The seventeenth-century timber-framed building is situated within the walls of the Roman city of Verulamium.
51°45′30″N0°23′16″W / 51.7583°N 0.3877°W