Kirby Hall | |
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General information | |
Type | Country house |
Location | Gretton, Northamptonshire |
Coordinates | 52°31′27″N0°38′14″W / 52.52417°N 0.63722°W |
Completed | 17th century |
Owner | Earl of Winchilsea, English Heritage |
Kirby Hall is a Grade I listed Elizabethan country house, located near Gretton, Northamptonshire, England. The nearest main town is Corby. One of the great Elizabethan houses of England, Kirby Hall was built in 1570 for Sir Humphrey Stafford of Blatherwick. In 1575, Sir Christopher Hatton of Holdenby purchased the property, [1] Hatton was Lord Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth I. It is a leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Construction on the building began in 1570, based on the designs in French architectural pattern books and expanded in the Classical style over the course of the following decades. The house is now in a semi-ruined state with many parts roof-less although the Great Hall and state rooms remain intact. The gardens, with their elaborate "cutwork" design, complete with statues and urns, have been recently restored.
Elizabeth Vaux, a Catholic recusant leased the hall in 1599, intending to establish John Gerard and other priests in a college in the house. The Privy Council heard of the plan and raided Kirby Hall, hoping to capture the priests, who, with exception of Hugh Sheldon, evaded the search. Abandoning her plans for Kirkby, Vaux extended her house at Harrowden instead. [2]
Anne of Denmark stayed at Kirby on 9 August 1605 while her husband King James I stayed at Rockingham Castle. [3] James I stayed nine times at Kirby Hall between 1608–1624, [4] one of them in August 1616 for three days. [5] During a royal progress Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox died at Kirby of the "spotted ague" on 30 July 1624. [6]
Kirby Hall was eventually inherited by Edward Finch, the youngest son of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and 7th Earl of Winchilsea and Anne Hatton, sole heiress to the 1st Viscount Hatton. Edward's eldest son, George Finch-Hatton married Lady Elizabeth Murray, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Mansfield. In 1791, their eldest son and heir George (later 10th Earl of Winchilsea) was born at Kirby Hall.
During the 1780s, George Finch-Hatton had begun renovating the hall's interior drastically into 18th century style while preserving the exterior intact, he removed and sold the Tudor wood panelling, in exchange for wallpaper and pediment. The Hall began its slow decline when George and Lady Elizabeth's newly built palatial mansion Eastwell Park was finished and the family moved there entirely. [7]
By the late 1880s, the hall had been completely abandoned and in ruins, the 12th Earl of Winchilsea, uncle to Denys Finch Hatton, dreamed to preserve and "if ever his ship came in" to restore the ancestral property to its old splendour, he was never able to carry out his dream. He died in 1898 and the title passed to his brother, Denys's father. [8]
The building and gardens are still owned by the Earl of Winchilsea. The site was designated a scheduled monument in 1927. [9]
Kirby Hall has been used as a filming location in many productions. These include: episode 6 ("Protest and Communication") of Kenneth Clark's Civilisation, [10] and Patricia Rozema film adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1999) [11] [12] and A Christmas Carol for Ealing Studios in 1999. In 2014 it was the venue for an edition of BBC One's Antiques Roadshow . [13]
Earl of Winchilsea is a title in the Peerage of England. It has been held by the Finch-Hatton family of Kent, and united with the title of Earl of Nottingham under a single holder since 1729.
Sir Christopher Hatton KG was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason.
Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton (1632–1706) was an English aristocrat and diplomat.
Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, 7th Earl of Winchilsea PC was an English Tory politician and peer who supported the Hanoverian Succession in 1714. Known as Lord Nottingham until 1729, then as Lord Winchilsea.
Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea and 3rd Earl of Nottingham, , of Burley House near Oakham in Rutland and of Eastwell Park near Ashford in Kent, was a British peer and politician.
Haverholme Priory was a monastery in Lincolnshire, England. Its remains are situated 4 miles (6 km) north-east of the town of Sleaford and less than 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west from the village of Anwick.
Eastwell Park is a large area of parkland and a country estate in the civil parish of Eastwell, adjoining Ashford, Kent, in England. It was owned by the Earls of Winchilsea for more than three centuries. Over time, successive buildings have served as homes to Sir Thomas Moyle, the Earls of Winchilsea and Nottingham, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and others.
Denys George Finch-Hatton MC was a British aristocratic big-game hunter and the lover of Baroness Karen von Blixen, a Danish noblewoman who wrote about him in her autobiographical book Out of Africa, first published in 1937. In the book, his name is hyphenated: "Finch-Hatton".
Guy Montagu George Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea and 9th Earl of Nottingham was an English peer and banker. He was the elder brother of renowned big-game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton. His daughter married Whitney Straight of the American Whitney family and his son married a member of the Vanderbilt family.
Viscount Hatton, of Grendon, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1683 for Christopher Hatton, 2nd Baron Hatton. He was the son of the prominent Royalist Christopher Hatton, who was created Baron Hatton, of Kirby, in the Peerage of England in 1643. He was a relation and heir of Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor under Queen Elizabeth I. The first Viscount was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Viscount. On his death the titles passed to his younger brother, the third Viscount. When he died in 1762 the titles became extinct.
Lady Elizabeth Mary Finch-Hatton was a British aristocrat and the subject of a notable painting, once thought to be by Johann Zoffany, now attributed to David Martin.
George William Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea, 5th Earl of Nottingham was an English peer and politician known for duelling with the then Prime Minister, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in 1829.
Murray Edward Gordon Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea and 7th Earl of Nottingham, styled the Hon. Murray Finch-Hatton until 1887, was a British Conservative politician and agriculturalist. His country residence was at Haverholme Priory, Lincolnshire.
Edward Finch-Hatton of Kirby Hall, near Rockingham, Northamptonshire, was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons for 41 years from 1727 to 1768. The youngest son of the 7th Earl of Winchilsea
George James Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea and 6th Earl of Nottingham, styled Viscount Maidstone between 1826 and 1857, was a British peer and Tory politician.
George Finch-Hatton Esq FRS was an English aristocrat and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1772 to 1784.
Castle Ashby, often Castle Ashby House is a country house at Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire, England. It is one of the seats of the Marquess of Northampton. The house, church, formal gardens and landscaped park are Grade I listed.
Christopher Turnor MP, JP, DL, was an English Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1841 to 1847, and a promoter of Lincolnshire architecture.
Georgiana Charlotte Finch-Hatton, Countess of Winchilsea, formerly Lady Georgiana Charlotte Graham, was the first wife of George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea.
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea and Nottingham, formerly Anne Hatton, was daughter of 1st Viscount Hatton and the second wife of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, and the mother of Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea. Lady Nottingham was appointed the Lady of the Bedchamber to Mary II of England in 1691, and served in that position until the Queen's death in 1694.
Media related to Kirby Hall at Wikimedia Commons