90-489: Bretby Hall is a country house at Bretby , Derbyshire , England, north of Swadlincote and east of Burton upon Trent on the border with Staffordshire . It is a Grade II listed building . The name Bretby means "dwelling place of Britons". The first Bretby Hall was built in 1630 after Thomas Stanhope bought the manor of Bretby from the family of Stephen de Segrave, to whom it had been granted by Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester . In 1628, his grandson Philip
180-630: A coup de main perpetrated by an armed band, many of which roamed the countryside during the troubled times of the Hundred Years War and the French wars of religion ; but these fortified manor houses could not have withstood a lengthy siege undertaken by a regular army equipped with (siege) engines or heavy artillery. The German equivalent of a manor house is a Gutshaus (or Gut , Gutshof , Rittergut , Landgut or Bauerngut ). Also Herrenhaus and Domäne are common terms. Schloss (pl. Schlösser)
270-450: A château or a Schloss can be a fortified or unfortified building, a country house, similar to an Ansitz , is usually unfortified. If fortified, it is called a castle, but not all buildings with the name "castle" are fortified (for example Highclere Castle in Hampshire ). The term stately home is subject to debate, and avoided by historians and other academics. As a description of
360-711: A ridderhofstad ( Utrecht ), a stins or state ( Friesland ), or a havezate ( Drente , Overijssel and Gelderland ). Some of these buildings were fortified. A number of castles associated with the nobility are found in the country. In Dutch, a building like this was called a kasteel , a slot , a burcht or (in Groningen ) a borg . During the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, merchants and regents looking for ways to spend their wealth bought country estates and built grand new homes, often just for summer use. Some purchased existing manor houses and castles from
450-688: A country house, the term was first used in a poem by Felicia Hemans , "The Homes of England", originally published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1827. In the 20th century, the term was later popularised in a song by Noël Coward , and in modern usage it often implies a country house that is open to visitors at least some of the time. In England, the terms "country house" and "stately home" are sometimes used vaguely and interchangeably; however, many country houses such as Ascott in Buckinghamshire were deliberately designed not to be stately, and to harmonise with
540-480: A countryside house closer to the urban core. Initially, "quinta" (fifth) designated the 1/5 part of the production that the lessee (called "quintero") paid to the lessor (owner of the land), but lately the term was applied to the whole property. This term is also very common in the former Spanish colonies. Alqueria in Al-Andalus made reference to small rural communities that were located near cities ( medinas ). Since
630-465: A diminutive of cohors , meaning ' courtyard '. They are often isolated structures associated with a large family farming or livestock operation in the vast and empty adjoining lands. It would usually include a large house, together with accessory buildings such as workers' quarters, sheds to house livestock, granaries, oil mills , barns and often a wall enclosing a courtyard. The master of the cortijo or "señorito" would usually live with his family in
720-730: A few of which are still held within the original families. Unlike in Europe, the United States did not create a native architectural style common to manor houses. A typical architectural style used for American manor-style homes in the mid-Atlantic region is Georgian architecture although a homegrown variant of Georgian did emerge in the late 1700s called Federal architecture . Other styles borrowed from Europe include Châteauesque with Biltmore Estate being an example, Tudor Revival architecture see Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park , and Neoclassical architecture with Monticello being
810-428: A fortunate few; it was the centre of its own world, providing employment to hundreds of people in the vicinity of its estate . In previous eras, when state benefits were unheard of, those working on an estate were among the most fortunate, receiving secured employment and rent-free accommodation. At the summit of this category of people was the indoor staff of the country house. Unlike many of their contemporaries prior to
900-590: A latrine. In addition to having both lower and upper halls, many French manor houses also had partly fortified gateways, watchtowers, and enclosing walls that were fitted with arrow or gun loops for added protection. Some larger 16th-century manors, such as the Château de Kerjean in Finistère , Brittany, were even outfitted with ditches and fore-works that included gun platforms for cannons. These defensive arrangements allowed maisons-fortes and rural manors to be safe from
990-524: A mixture of high architecture , often as interpreted by a local architect or surveyor, and determined by practicality as much as by the whims of architectural taste. An example of this is Brympton d'Evercy in Somerset, a house of many periods that is unified architecturally by the continuing use of the same mellow, local Ham Hill stone . The fashionable William Kent redesigned Rousham House only to have it quickly and drastically altered to provide space for
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#17330848955261080-586: A prominent example. In the Antebellum South , many plantation houses were built in Greek Revival architecture style. Virginia House is a former 16th-entury English manor house blending three romantic English Tudor designs. In 1925, it was relocated to Richmond, Virginia from main sections dating from the 1620 remodeling of a priory in Warwickshire, England and reconstructed on a hillside overlooking
1170-755: A result, this limited the development of a feudal or manorial land-owning system to just a few regions such as Tidewater and Piedmont Virginia, the Carolina Low Country , the Mississippi Delta , and the Hudson River Valley in the early years of the republic. Today, relics of early manorial life in the early United States are found in a few places such as the Eastern Shore of Maryland with examples such as Wye Hall and Hope House (Easton, Maryland) , Virginia at Monticello and Westover Plantation ,
1260-443: A royal licence to crenellate . They were often enclosed within walls or ditches which often also included agricultural buildings. Arranged for defence against roaming bands of robbers and thieves, in days long before police, they were often surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge , and were equipped with gatehouses and watchtowers , but not, as for castles, with a keep , large towers or lofty curtain walls designed to withstand
1350-558: A siege. The primary feature of the manor house was its great hall , to which subsidiary apartments were added as the lessening of feudal warfare permitted more peaceful domestic life. By the beginning of the 16th century, manor houses as well as small castles began to acquire the character and amenities of the residences of country gentlemen, and many defensive elements were dispensed with, for example Sutton Place in Surrey , c. 1521 . A late 16th-century transformation produced many of
1440-528: A two-story building, while the accessory structures were for the labourers and their families —also known as "cortijeros" . Before the founding of the United States, colonial powers such as Britain, France and the Netherlands made land grants to favored individuals in the original colonies that evolved into large agricultural estates that resembled the manors familiar to Europeans. Founding fathers such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were
1530-453: A website dedicated to Bretby Hall past, present and future. 52°47′57″N 1°33′29″W / 52.79924°N 1.55797°W / 52.79924; -1.55797 English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house . This allowed them to spend time in
1620-500: Is a term used in the Portuguese language -speaking world, which is applied variously to manors homes or to estates as a whole. Casa solariega is the catch-all name for manor houses in Spain. They were the places where heads of noble families resided. Those houses receive a different name depending on the geographical region of Spain where they are located, the noble rank of the owner family,
1710-593: Is another German word for a building similar to manor house, stately home , château or palace . Other terms used in German are Burg ( castle ), Festung ( fort /fortress) and Palais / Palast ( palace ). German language uses terms like Schloss or Gutshaus for places that functioned as the administrative center of a manor. Gut(shaus) implies a smaller ensemble of buildings within a more agricultural setting, usually owned by lower-ranking landed gentry whereas Schloss describes more representative and larger places. During
1800-473: Is politics; they talk politics; and they make politics, quite spontaneously. There are no written terms for distinguishing between vast country palaces and comparatively small country houses; the descriptive terms, which can include castle , manor and court , provide no firm clue and are often only used because of a historical connection with the site of such a building. Therefore, for ease or explanation, Britain's country houses can be categorised according to
1890-559: Is the ITV series Downton Abbey . Manor houses A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor . The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system ; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts , communal meals with manorial tenants and great banquets. The term is today loosely (though erroneously) applied to various English country houses , mostly at
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#17330848955261980-607: The Napoleonic Code in France, under which such practices are illegal, greatly upset this tradition in the North. Although the Basques in the north chose to be "creative" with the new laws, it overall resulted in the breakup and ultimate financial ruin of many baserris. In practice the tradition of not breaking up baserris meant that the remaining children had to marry into another baserri, stay on
2070-470: The Utrecht Hill Ridge (Utrechtse Heuvelrug) and the area around Arnhem . Today there is a tendency to group these grand buildings together in the category of "castles". There are many castles and buitenplaatsen in all twelve provinces. A larger-than-average home is today called a villa or a herenhuis, but despite the grand name this is not the same as a manor house. The architectural form of
2160-399: The agricultural depressions of the 1870s , the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However, the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the swansong of the traditional English country house lifestyle. Increased taxation and the effects of World War I led to the demolition of hundreds of houses ; those that remained had to adapt to survive. While
2250-661: The "racing Earl", loved cricket and shooting, so he built a cricket pitch and raised game birds. Following the death of the seventh Earl in 1871, the Estate passed to his widowed mother, Anne Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of Chesterfield , who was a close friend of Benjamin Disraeli . On the death of the Countess, her estates devolved upon Lord Porchester , the eldest son of her daughter, Evelyn (died 1875), who had married Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon in 1861. The 5th Earl of Carnarvon ,
2340-550: The 15th century it makes reference to a farmhouse, with an agricultural farm , typical of Levante and the southeastern Spanish , mainly in Granada and Valencia . A pazo is a type of grand old house found in Galicia . A pazo is usually located in the countryside and the former residence of an important nobleman or other important individual. They were of crucial importance to the rural and monastic communities around them. The pazo
2430-453: The 1850s, with the English economy booming, new mansions were built in one of the many revivalist architectural styles popular throughout the 19th century. The builders of these new houses were able to take advantage of the political unrest in Europe that gave rise to a large trade in architectural salvage. This new wave of country house building is exemplified by the Rothschild properties in
2520-419: The 18th century with houses such as Castle Howard , Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall . Such building reached its zenith from the late 17th century until the mid-18th century; these houses were often completely built or rebuilt in their entirety by one eminent architect in the most fashionable architectural style of the day and often have a suite of Baroque state apartments, typically in enfilade , reserved for
2610-561: The 18th century, some of these manor houses became local centers of culture where the local gentry, sometimes inspired by what they had experienced during their grand tour , was mimicking the lifestyle of the higher nobility, creating lavish parks, art collections or showed an interest in science and research. There are many historical manor houses throughout the Netherlands . Some have been converted into museums, hotels, conference centres, etc. Some are located on estates and in parks. Many of
2700-474: The 20th century, they slept in proper beds, wore well-made adequate clothes and received three proper meals a day, plus a small wage. In an era when many still died from malnutrition or lack of medicine, the long working hours were a small price to pay. As a result of the aristocratic habit of only marrying within the aristocracy, and whenever possible to a sole heiress, many owners of country houses owned several country mansions, and would visit each according to
2790-644: The Hudson River Valley of New York at Clermont State Historic Site or along the Mississippi such as Lansdowne (Natchez, Mississippi) . Over time, these large estates were usually subdivided as they became economically unsustainable and are now a fraction of their historical extent. In the southern states, the demise of plantation slavery after the Civil War gave rise to a sharecropping agricultural economy that had similarities to European serfdom and lasted into
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2880-539: The Monasteries under King Henry VIII resulted in many former monastical properties being sold to the King's favourites, who then converted them into private country houses, examples being Woburn Abbey , Forde Abbey , Nostell Priory and many other mansions with the suffix Abbey or Priory to their name. During the second half of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and under her successor King James I (1603–1625)
2970-734: The Polish manor house ( Polish : dwór or dworek ) evolved around the late Polish Renaissance period and continued until the Second World War, which, together with the communist takeover of Poland, spelled the end of the nobility in Poland . A 1944 decree nationalized most mansions as property of the nobles, but few were adapted to other purposes. Many slowly fell into ruin over the next few decades. Poland inherited many German-style manor houses ( Gutshäuser ) after parts of eastern Germany were taken over by Poland after World War II . In Portugal , it
3060-481: The United States that includes a manor-type house is Gardiners Island , a private island that has been in the same family since the 17th century and contains a Georgian architecture house. Today, some historically and architecturally significant manor houses in the United States are museums. However, many still function as private residences, including many of the colonial-era manor houses found in Maryland and Virginia
3150-720: The alcázars were built between the 8th and 15th centuries. Many cities in Spain have its alcázar. Palaces built in the Moorish style after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain are often referred to as alcazars as well. Hacienda is landed estates of significant size located in the south of Spain ( Andalusia ). They were also very common in the former Spanish colonies . Some haciendas were plantations , mines or factories . Many haciendas combined these productive activities. They were developed as profit-making, economic enterprises linked to regional or international markets. The owner of an hacienda
3240-467: The best-known examples of the showy prodigy house , often built with the intention of attracting the monarch to visit. By the reign of Charles I , Inigo Jones and his form of Palladianism had changed the face of English domestic architecture completely, with the use of turrets and towers as an architectural reference to the earlier castles and fortified houses completely disappearing. The Palladian style, in various forms, interrupted briefly by baroque ,
3330-663: The bounds of the manor. In some instances they needed to be able to hold meetings of the Manorial court . Nearly every large medieval manor house had its own deer-park adjoining, imparked (i.e. enclosed) by royal licence, which served primarily as a store of food in the form of venison . Within these licensed parks deer could not be hunted by royalty (with its huge travelling entourage which needed to be fed and entertained), nor by neighbouring land-owners nor by any other persons. Before around 1600, larger houses were usually fortified, generally for true defensive purposes but increasingly, as
3420-416: The case of a feudal baron , spread across a kingdom, which he occupied only on occasional visits. Even so, the business of the manor was directed and controlled by regular manorial courts, which appointed manorial officials such as the bailiff , granted copyhold leases to tenants, resolved disputes between manorial tenants and administered justice in general. A large and suitable building was required within
3510-520: The circumstances of their creation. The great houses are the largest of the country houses; in truth palaces, built by the country's most powerful – these were designed to display their owners' power or ambitions to power. Really large unfortified or barely fortified houses began to take over from the traditional castles of the crown and magnates during the Tudor period, with vast houses such as Hampton Court Palace and Burghley House , and continued until
3600-405: The core unit of traditional Basque society, as the ancestral home of a family . Traditionally, the household is administered by the etxekoandre (lady of the house) and the etxekojaun (master of the house), each with distinctly defined rights, roles and responsibilities. When the couple reaches a certain age upon which they wish to retire, the baserri is formally handed over to a child. Unusually,
3690-619: The country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the landed gentry who dominated rural Britain until the Reform Act 1832 . Frequently, the formal business of the counties was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in manor houses . With large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff, country houses were important as places of employment for many rural communities. In turn, until
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3780-692: The country in the summer because of the putrid canals and diseases in the city. A few still exist, especially along the river Vecht , the river Amstel , the Spaarne in Kennemerland , the river Vliet and in Wassenaar . Some are located near former lakes (now polders ) like the Wijkermeer, Watergraafsmeer and the Beemster . In the 19th century, with improvements in water management, new regions came into fashion, such as
3870-412: The country saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses. Henry VIII 's Dissolution of the Monasteries saw many former ecclesiastical properties granted to the King's favourites, who then converted them into private country houses. Woburn Abbey , Forde Abbey and many other mansions with abbey or priory in their name became private houses during this period. Other terms used in
3960-558: The days of the cess-pit , and repaired. Thus such non-resident lords needed to appoint a steward or seneschal to act as their deputy in such matters and to preside at the manorial courts of his different manorial properties. The day-to-day administration was carried out by a resident official in authority at each manor, who in England was called a bailiff , or reeve . Although not typically built with strong fortifications as were castles , many manor-houses were fortified , which required
4050-428: The design of the wing around the next corner. These varying "improvements", often criticised at the time, today are the qualities that make English country houses unique. Wealthy and influential people, often bored with their formal duties, go to the country in order to get out of London, the ugliest and most uncomfortable city in the world; they invented the long week-end to stay away as long as possible. Their métier
4140-461: The earlier houses are the legacy of the feudal heerlijkheid system. The Dutch had a manorial system centred on the local lord's demesne . In Middle Dutch this was called the vroonhof or vroenhoeve , a word derived from the Proto-Germanic word fraujaz , meaning "lord". This was also called a hof and the lord's house a hofstede . Other terms were used, including landhuis (or just huis ),
4230-427: The early 1970s, hundreds of country houses were demolished . Houses that survived destruction are now mostly Grade I or II listed as buildings of historic interest with restrictions on restoration and re-creation work. However such work is usually very expensive. Several houses have been restored, some over many years. For example at Copped Hall where the restoration started in 1995 continues to this day. Although
4320-791: The early 20th century. The Biltmore Estate in North Carolina (which is still owned by descendants of the original builder, a member of the Vanderbilt family ) is a more modern, though unsuccessful, attempt at building a small manorial society near Asheville, North Carolina. Most manor-style homes built since the Civil War were merely country retreats for wealthy industrialists in the late 19th and early 20th century and had little agricultural, administrative or political function. Examples of these homes include Castle Hill (Ipswich, Massachusetts) , Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site and Hearst Castle . A rare example of hereditary estate ownership in
4410-522: The family baserri as unmarried employees or make their own way in the world ( Iglesia o mar o casa real , "Church or sea or royal house"). A cortijo is a type of traditional rural habitat in the Southern half of Spain , including all of Andalusia and parts of Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha . Cortijos may have their origins in ancient Roman villas , for the word is derived from the Latin cohorticulum ,
4500-507: The famous egyptologist for whom Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun , commenced breaking up the Bretby estate during World War I . The Carnarvons never lived at Bretby Park, preferring their home at Highclere Castle , near Newbury, Berkshire . They did make regular visits, however, particularly for shooting. The main estate was sold to John Downing Wragg, a Swadlincote industrialist. The proceeds helped to fund Carter's search for
4590-450: The first mansions designed by architects not by mere masons or builders, began to make their appearance. Such houses as Burghley House , Longleat House , and Hatfield House are among the best known of this period and seem today to epitomise the English country house . During the 16th century many lords of manors moved their residences from their ancient manor houses often situated next to
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#17330848955264680-663: The hill which housed the Imperial residences in Rome. Palacio Real is the same as Palacio, but historically used (either now or in the past) by the Spanish royal family . Palacio arzobispal is the same as Palacio, but historically used by the ecclesiastic authorities (mainly bishops or archbishops). Alcázar is a type of Moorish castle or fortified palace in Spain (and also Portugal ) built during Muslim rule, although some founded by Christians. Mostly of
4770-473: The home counties and Bletchley Park (rebuilt in several styles, and famous for its code-breaking role in World War II). The slow decline of the English country house coincided with the rise not just of taxation, but also of modern industry, along with the agricultural depression of the 1870s. By 1880, this had led some owners into financial shortfalls as they tried to balance maintenance of their estates with
4860-435: The household. These houses were always an alternative residence to a London house. During the 18th and 19th centuries, for the highest echelons of English society, the country house served as a place for relaxing, hunting and running the country with one's equals at the end of the week, with some houses having their own theatre where performances were staged. The country house, however, was not just an oasis of pleasure for
4950-551: The immediately preceding war then in World War I, were now paying far higher rates of tax, and agricultural incomes had dropped. Thus, the solution for many was to hold contents auctions and then demolish the house and sell its stone, fireplaces , and panelling . This is what happened to many of Britain's finest houses. Despite this slow decline, so necessary was the country house for entertaining and prestige that in 1917 Viscount Lee of Fareham donated his country house Chequers to
5040-438: The income they provided. Some relied on funds from secondary sources such as banking and trade while others, like the severely impoverished Duke of Marlborough , sought to marry American heiresses to save their country houses and lifestyles. The ultimate demise began immediately following World War I . The members of the huge staff required to maintain large houses had either left to fight and never returned, departed to work in
5130-545: The kingdom became internally more peaceable after the Wars of the Roses , as a form of status symbol, reflecting the position of their owners as having been worthy to receive royal licence to crenellate . The Tudor period (16th century) of stability in England saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses , for example Sutton Place in Surrey, circa 1521. The Dissolution of
5220-484: The landscape, while some of the great houses such as Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall were built as "power houses" to dominate the landscape, and were most certainly intended to be "stately" and impressive. In his book Historic Houses: Conversations in Stately Homes , the author and journalist Robert Harling documents nineteen "stately homes"; these range in size from the vast Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard to
5310-540: The latter two are ducal palaces, Montacute, although built by a Master of the Rolls to Queen Elizabeth I, was occupied for the next 400 years by his descendants, who were gentry without a London townhouse , rather than aristocracy. They finally ran out of funds in the early 20th century. However, the vast majority of English country houses, often owned at different times by gentlemen and peers , are an evolution of one or more styles with facades and wings in different styles in
5400-450: The manor for such purpose, generally in the form of a great hall , and a solar might be attached to form accommodation for the lord. The produce of a small manor might be insufficient to feed a lord and his large family for a full year, and thus he would spend only a few months at each manor and move on to another where stores had been laid up. This also gave the opportunity for the vacated manor house to be cleaned, especially important in
5490-639: The minuscule Ebberston Hall , and in architecture from the Jacobean Renaissance of Hatfield House to the eccentricities of Sezincote . The book's collection of stately homes also includes George IV's Brighton town palace, the Royal Pavilion . The country houses of England have evolved over the last five hundred years. Before this time, larger houses were usually fortified, reflecting the position of their owners as feudal lords , de facto overlords of their manors . The Tudor period of stability in
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#17330848955265580-416: The most eminent guests, the entertainment of whom was of paramount importance in establishing and maintaining the power of the owner. The common denominator of this category of English country houses is that they were designed to be lived in with a certain degree of ceremony and pomp. It was not unusual for the family to have a small suite of rooms for withdrawing in privacy away from the multitude that lived in
5670-399: The munitions factories, or filled the void left by the fighting men in other workplaces. Of those who returned after the war, many left the countryside for better-paid jobs in towns. The final blow for many country houses came following World War II ; having been requisitioned during the war, they were returned to the owners in poor repair. Many estate owners, having lost their heirs, if not in
5760-468: The names of houses to describe their origin or importance include palace , castle , court , hall , mansion , park , house , manor , and place . It was during the second half of the reign of Elizabeth I , and under her successor, James I , that the first architect-designed mansions, thought of today as epitomising the English country house, began to make their appearance. Burghley House , Longleat House , and Hatfield House are among
5850-450: The nation for the use of a prime minister who might not possess one of his or her own. Chequers still fulfills that need today as do both Chevening House and Dorneywood , donated for sole use of high-ranking ministers of the Crown. Today, many country houses have become hotels, schools, hospitals and museums, while others have survived as conserved ruins, but from the early 20th century until
5940-524: The nobility. Some country houses were built on top of the ruins of earlier castles that had been destroyed during the Dutch Revolt . The owners, aspiring to noble status, adopted the name of the earlier castle. These country houses or stately homes (called buitenplaats or buitenhuis in Dutch) were located close to the city in picturesque areas with a clean water source. Wealthy families sent their children to
6030-468: The owner of a "power house" or a small manor, the inhabitants of the English country house have become collectively referred to as the ruling class, because this is exactly what they did in varying degrees, whether by having high political influence and power in national government, or in the day-to-day running of their own localities or "county" in such offices as lord/deputy lieutenant , magistrates , or occasionally even clergy. The Country house mystery
6120-521: The owner's twelve children. Canons Ashby , home to poet John Dryden 's family, is another example of architectural evolution: a medieval farmhouse enlarged in the Tudor era around a courtyard, given grandiose plaster ceilings in the Stuart period , and then having Georgian façades added in the 18th century. The whole is a glorious mismatch of styles and fashions that seamlessly blend together. These could be called
6210-488: The owners of large agricultural estates granted by colonial rulers and built large manor houses from which these estates were managed (e.g., Mount Vernon , Monticello ). American agricultural estates, however, often relied on slaves rather than tenant farmers or serfs which were common in Europe at the time. The owners of American agricultural estates did not have noble titles and there was no legally recognized political structure based on an aristocratic, land-owning class. As
6300-502: The ownership or management of some houses has been transferred to a private trust , most notably at Chatsworth , other houses have transferred art works and furnishings under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme to ownership by various national or local museums, but retained for display in the building. This enables the former owners to offset tax, the payment of which would otherwise have necessitated
6390-480: The parents were by tradition free to choose any child, male or female, firstborn or later born, to assume the role of etxekoandre or etxekojaun to ensure the child most suitable to the role would inherit the ancestral home. The baserri under traditional law (the fueros ) cannot be divided or inherited by more than one person. This is still the case in the Southern Basque Country but the introduction of
6480-481: The parish church and near or in the village and built a new manor house within the walls of their ancient deer-parks adjoining. This gave them more privacy and space. While suffixes given to manor houses in recent centuries have little substantive meaning, and many have changed over time, in previous centuries manor names had specific connotations. The usage is often today used as a modern catch-all suffix for an old house on an estate , true manor or not. In France,
6570-457: The private sale of the art works. For example, tapestries and furniture at Houghton Hall are now owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum . In addition, increasing numbers of country houses hold licences for weddings and civil ceremonies . Another source of income is to use the house as a venue for parties, a film location or a corporate entertainment venue. While many country houses are open to
6660-467: The public and derive income through that means, they remain homes, in some cases inhabited by the descendants of their original owners. The lifestyles of those living and working in a country house in the early 20th century were recreated in a BBC television programme, The Edwardian Country House , filmed at Manderston House in Scotland. Another television programme which features life in country houses
6750-459: The season: Grouse shooting in Scotland , pheasant shooting and fox hunting in England. The Earl of Rosebery , for instance, had Dalmeny House in Scotland, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, and another house near Epsom just for the racing season. For many, this way of life, which began a steady decline in 1914, continued well into the 20th century, and for a few continues to this day. In
6840-444: The second category of Britain's country houses are those that belonged to the squirearchy or landed gentry . These tend either to have evolved from medieval hall houses, with rooms added as required, or were purpose-built by relatively unknown local architects. Smaller, and far greater in number than the "power houses", these were still the epicentre of their own estate, but were often the only residence of their owner. However, whether
6930-485: The size of the house and/or the use that the family gave to them. In Spain many old manor houses, palaces, castles and grand homes have been converted into a Parador hotel. A Palacio is a sumptuously decorated grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill,
7020-490: The smaller Renaissance châteaux of France and the numerous country mansions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles in England. These would eventually evolve into country houses with the estate replacing the manor. Manor houses were often built in close proximity to the village for ease, as they served not just as a home for the lord of the manor, but as a centre of administration for those who lived or travelled within
7110-484: The smaller end of the spectrum, sometimes dating from the Late Middle Ages , which currently or formerly house the landed gentry . Manor houses were sometimes fortified , albeit not as fortified as castles, but this was often more for show than for defence. They existed in most European countries where feudalism was present. The lord of the manor may have held several properties within a county or, for example in
7200-509: The terms château or manoir are often used synonymously to describe a French manor house; maison-forte is the appellation for a strongly fortified house , which may include two sets of enclosing walls, drawbridges , and a ground-floor hall or salle basse that was used to receive peasants and commoners. The term manoir is used historically only in Normandy and in Brittany . The salle basse
7290-504: The tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt in the early 1920s. In 1926, the Hall was sold to Derbyshire County Council and was run as Bretby Hall Hospital until 28 February 1997. It opened as a sanatorium to treat children but became an orthopaedic centre. The hall was sold to a private developer and converted to luxury apartments and suites. See https://www.bretbyhall.com 4. https://www.bretbyhall.com
7380-488: The true English country house. Wilton House , one of England's grandest houses, is in a remarkably similar vein; although, while the Drydens, mere squires, at Canons Ashby employed a local architect, at Wilton the mighty Earls of Pembroke employed the finest architects of the day: first Holbein , 150 years later Inigo Jones, and then Wyatt followed by Chambers. Each employed a different style of architecture, seemingly unaware of
7470-511: Was a popular genre of English detective fiction in the 1920s and 1930s; set in the residence of the gentry and often involving a murder in a country house temporarily isolated by a snowstorm or similar with the suspects all at a weekend house party. Following the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, a third category of country houses was built as newly rich industrialists and bankers were eager to display their wealth and taste. By
7560-548: Was a traditional architectural structure associated with a community and social network. It usually consisted of a main building surrounded by gardens, a dovecote and outbuildings such as a small chapels for religious celebrations. The word pazo is derived from the Latin palatiu(m) ("palace"). The Baserri , called "Caserio" in Spanish, is the typical manor house of the Basque Provinces and Navarre . A baserri represents
7650-408: Was also the location of the manorial court, with the steward or seigneur's seating location often marked by the presence of a crédence de justice or wall-cupboard (shelves built into the stone walls to hold documents and books associated with administration of the demesne or droit de justice ). The salle haute or upper-hall, reserved for the seigneur and where he received his high-ranking guests,
7740-483: Was made Earl of Chesterfield by King Charles I of England . From then on, Bretby Hall was the ancestral home of the Earls of Chesterfield . The second Earl was responsible for a complete restyling of the gardens so that some compared them favourably with the gardens at Versailles . The fifth Earl demolished the mansion and built the present Hall (c.1812) to a design by Sir Jeffry Wyatville . The sixth Earl , known as
7830-416: Was often accessible by an external spiral staircase. It was commonly "open" up to the roof trusses, as in similar English homes. This larger and more finely decorated hall was usually located above the ground-floor hall. The seigneur and his family's private chambres were often located off of the upper first-floor hall, and invariably had their own fireplace (with finely decorated chimney-piece) and frequently
7920-489: Was quite common during the 17th to early 20th centuries for the aristocracy to have country homes. These homes, known as solares ( paços , when the manor was a certain stature or size; quintas , when the manor included a sum of land), were found particularly in the northern, usually richer, Portugal, in the Beira , Minho , and Trás-os-Montes provinces. Many have been converted into a type of hotel called pousada . Quinta
8010-447: Was termed an hacendado or patrón . The work force on haciendas varied, depending on the type of hacienda and where it was located. Casona is old manor houses in León , Asturias and Cantabria ( Spain ) following the so-called " casa montañesa architecture". Most of them were built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Typologically they are halfway between rustic houses and palaces Quinta is
8100-422: Was to predominate until the second half of the 18th century when, influenced by ancient Greek styles, it gradually evolved into the neoclassicism championed by such architects as Robert Adam . Some of the best known of England's country houses were the work of only one architect/designer, built in a relatively short, particular time: Montacute House , Chatsworth House , and Blenheim Palace are examples. While
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