Knebworth House is an English country house in the parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. [1] Its gardens are also listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [2] In its surrounding park are the medieval St. Mary's Church and the Lytton family mausoleum. It was the seat of the Earl of Lytton (also Viscount Knebworth), and now the house of the family of the Baron Cobbold of Knebworth.
The grounds are home to the Knebworth Festival, a recurring open-air rock and pop concert held since 1974.
The home of the Lytton family since 1490, when Thomas Bourchier sold the reversion of the manor to Sir Robert Lytton, Knebworth House was originally a red-brick Late Gothic manor house, built round a central court as an open square. In 1813–16 the house was reduced to its west wing, [3] which was remodelled in a Tudor Gothic style by John Biagio Rebecca for Mrs Bulwer-Lytton, [4] and then was transformed in 1843-45 by Henry Edward Kendall Jr. into the present Tudor Gothic structure. [5]
Knebworth's most famous resident was Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873), the Victorian author, dramatist and statesman, who embellished the gardens in a formal Italianate fashion. The 1st Baron's great-grandson Neville (1879–1951) married Judith Blunt, a well known horse breeder who inherited Crabbet Arabian Stud in 1917 and devoted her life to it. In 1913–1914 the house was leased for £3,000 per year by Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia and his morganatic wife Natalia Brasova. [6]
Much of the interior of Knebworth House was redesigned by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who married Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964) – he simplified the main parterre. Lady Emily was the daughter of the 1st Earl of Lytton, who served as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880. A herb garden, with an interlaced quincunx design, was drawn by Gertrude Jekyll in 1907, although not planted until 1982. The grounds are also open to the public.
The 3rd Baron Cobbold lives at the house with his family. After a career in the film industry in Los Angeles, he lets production companies film on location in the house and gardens. The grounds include tourist attractions such as an adventure playground and dinosaur park and host various events including classic car rallies.
Beginning in 1974, a recurring open-air rock and pop concert known as the Knebworth Festival has been held in the grounds. The festival first occurred in July 1974 when The Allman Brothers Band, The Doobie Brothers and other artists played to an audience of 60,000 people. Over the years the festival has featured major artists such as Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen (their 1986 concert at the venue their last with Freddie Mercury), Paul McCartney, Genesis, Mike Oldfield, The Beach Boys, Deep Purple, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Dire Straits, Robbie Williams, Oasis and Liam Gallagher. [7]
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Productions that have been filmed at Knebworth include:
Local radio station BOB FM (now Heart Hertfordshire) broadcast from Knebworth's former pump house, which used to provide water to the main house.
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton,, was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859, choosing Richard Clement Moody as founder of British Columbia. He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866.
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton,, was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. During his tenure as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. He served as British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891.
Earl of Lytton, in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1880 for the diplomat and poet Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Baron Lytton. He was Viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880 and British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891. He was made Viscount Knebworth, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford, at the same time he was given the earldom, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Wayne Manor is a fictional mansion appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is the home of Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises, who is also the superhero Batman.
Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden and Langley, and encompasses the village of Knebworth, the small village of Old Knebworth and Knebworth House.
Hermione Cobbold, Baroness Cobbold, known as Lady Hermione Bulwer-Lytton until 1930, was the British matriarch of Knebworth House and wife of the 1st Baron Cobbold.
Cameron Fromanteel Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold,, was a British banker. He served as Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961 and as Lord Chamberlain from 1963 to 1971.
Thornfield Hall is a location in the 1847 novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. It is the home of the male romantic lead, Edward Fairfax Rochester, where much of the action takes place.
Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton,, styled Viscount Knebworth from 1880 to 1891, was a British politician and colonial administrator. He served as Governor of Bengal between 1922 and 1927 and was briefly Acting Viceroy of India in 1926. He headed the Lytton Commission for the League of Nations in 1931–1932, producing the Lytton Report which condemned the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and denounced Manchukuo as a Japanese puppet state.
The Knebworth Festival was a recurring open-air rock and pop concert held on the grounds of the Knebworth House in Knebworth, England. The festival first occurred in July 1974 when The Allman Brothers Band, The Doobie Brothers and other artists attracted 60,000 people.
Henry Fromanteel Lytton Cobbold, 3rd Baron Cobbold, is a British screenwriter. He is the current occupant of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, England.
David Antony Fromanteel Lytton Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold,, was a British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords.
John Biagio Rebecca, the son of Italian-born decorative painter Biagio Rebecca (1735–1808), was an architect of many buildings in Sussex and London. He lived in London's Leicester Square from 1825 to 1827 but many of his buildings were built in the seaside town of Worthing in Sussex and he is credited as being the town's principal Georgian architect.
Elizabeth Barbara Bulwer-Lytton was a member of the Lytton family of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, England.
St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold is a 2009 British adventure comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, both of whom directed the previous film in the series. It is the seventh in a long running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle, and the second film produced since the franchise was rebooted in 2007.
Lytton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Homewood is an Arts and Crafts style country house in Knebworth, Hertfordshire, England. Designed and built by architect Edwin Lutyens around 1900–3, using a mixture of vernacular and Neo-Georgian architecture, it is a Grade II* listed building. The house was one of Lutyens' first experiments in the addition of classical features to his previously vernacular style, and the introduction of symmetry into his plans. The gardens, also designed by Lutyens, are Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
St Martin's Church is an active Anglican church in Knebworth, Hertfordshire, England. The building, which is designated grade II*, was designed by Edwin Lutyens in an Italianate style. It is constructed in brick.
Richard John Warburton Lytton was an English landowner and member of the Lytton family. He was the father of Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, and the grandfather of Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer and Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton.
Christine Elizabeth Lytton Cobbold, Baroness Cobbold, was a British aristocrat and writer. She was married to David Lytton Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold; together they organised the Knebworth Festival at Knebworth House.