58-748: Rothley Court is a country house at Rothley in Leicestershire , England . It was mentioned in the Domesday Book and later, as Rothley Temple , associated with the Knights Templar . At the Dissolution it became a private house and the seat of the Babington family; Thomas Babington Macaulay was born there in 1800. It now functions as the Rothley Court Hotel. The preceptory 's chapel and part of
116-407: A Mr. Tennant, whose players were partly from London and partly from the area surrounding the estate. Leopold de Rothschild was present for this first match. The Rothschild family played a prominent role in the formation of Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club . Buckinghamshire first played at Ascott House in the 1905 Minor Counties Championship against Hertfordshire , playing there regularly once
174-496: A barmaid at the hotel. 52°42′18.50″N 1°9′19.30″W / 52.7051389°N 1.1553611°W / 52.7051389; -1.1553611 This article about a listed building in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a Leicestershire building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Country house An English country house
232-530: A console table is Tiepolo 's "The Assumption of the Virgin". The room also contains furniture by Thomas Chippendale and ancient Chinese ceramics . The extensive manicured gardens were laid out on the advice of the garden designer Sir Harry Veitch c. 1902 by Leopold de Rothschild as a wedding present to his wife. A sundial made entirely of topiary complete with Latin numerals proclaims in clipped yew: "Light and shade by turn, but love always". Closest to
290-428: 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
348-524: 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
406-515: A season to 1979. The county returned to Ascott in 1998 to play an MCCA Knockout Trophy match against Berkshire . Minor Counties Championship cricket was last played there in 2003, with Buckinghamshire's last venture to the ground coming 2009 in the MCCA Knockout Trophy against Lincolnshire . The ground held a List A match once, which came in the 2003 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy when first-class county Gloucestershire were
464-475: 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 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
522-500: 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 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
580-473: 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
638-535: Is the ITV series Downton Abbey . Ascott House Ascott House , sometimes referred to as simply Ascott , is a Grade II* listed building in the hamlet of Ascott near Wing in Buckinghamshire , England. It is set in a 32-acre / 13 hectare estate. Ascott House was originally a farm house, built in the reign of James I and known as "Ascott Hall". In 1873 it was acquired by Baron Mayer de Rothschild (of
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#1733086086395696-502: 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 the agricultural depressions of the 1870s , the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However,
754-512: The 16th and 17th centuries by such artists as Aelbert Cuyp , Adriaen van Ostade and Jan Steen . The works of art continue through the common room, with its portrait of a prelate attributed to Lorenzo Lotto . The Drawing Room today displays a collection of blue Chinese ceramics with examples from the Han dynasty c. 206 BC , to the Qing dynasty which lasted from 1644 until 1911. This room contains
812-502: 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
870-419: 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
928-481: 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
986-474: 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
1044-632: The Rothschild family retain a very close control over Ascott. The last resident of the house was the son of the donor, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild , who died in 2022. He added further works of art and ceramics to the collection and much of what is seen in the collection is still privately owned by the Rothschild family. Sir Evelyn de Rothschild also expanded the estate to its present size of approximately 3200 acres (13 km ). The estate contains many miles of new road-side tree planting, well-kept hedging, and cropping and planting of new woodland but retains some of
1102-467: 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 ,
1160-520: 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
1218-513: 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
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#17330860863951276-428: 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
1334-476: The domestic buildings still exist. Rothley Court incorporates part of the preceptory that was converted for residential use in the 16th century. Much of what can be seen today is from substantial renovation and extension works conducted by John Ely of Manchester, between 1894 and 1895. In 1951, Rothley Court and chapel were protected as Grade I listed buildings . In 1988 Mike Gatting was sacked as England cricket captain after an alleged off-field indiscretion with
1392-427: 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
1450-436: The entrance front's adjacent garden of topiarised box and bay trees a long-grassed avenue , enclosed by a tall beech hedge, leads to the lily pool. This pool, originally created for skating , is the heart of a Monet-style garden , complete with a thatched summerhouse also designed by George Devey. Cricket was first played at Ascott House on 28 August 1880, when an eleven brought from London played an eleven selected by
1508-473: 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
1566-484: The house was continually expanded during the remainder of the 19th century. The rambling and climbing shrubs he had planted as part of the design of the facades that Mary Gladstone described in her memoirs are no longer there. The style of architecture, which could be described as "English cottage meets Tudor Cheshire Manor house" is informal, the ground floor being of red brick, while the floors above are half-timbered. This rustic design no doubt deliberately reflected
1624-491: The house was inherited by her son Anthony Gustav de Rothschild . He and his wife, the former Yvonne D'Anvers , enlarged the house further, and were responsible for the present interiors, full of notable paintings and (unusually for a Rothschild House) a large collection of 18th-century English furniture. The ground floor contains the principal suite of large reception rooms, and while these rooms are furnished with works of art and furniture, they are low ceilinged, and, continuing
1682-455: The house's original intention as a rural retreat and hunting lodge purely for relaxation and pleasure, and contrasted with the family's alternative country home, the more classical and thus impressive Gunnersbury Park. Other Rothschild houses in Buckinghamshire were all designed in the more formal styles of architecture, either the classical renaissance such as Mentmore or that of a French chateau as at Waddesdon Manor . The architecture at Ascott
1740-435: 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
1798-551: 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
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1856-438: 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
1914-410: The informal concept of the design, are in no way intended to be state rooms . The entrance hall is notable for its large paintings by Thomas Gainsborough , George Romney , and Joshua Reynolds and the large work by George Stubbs , "Five Mares". The dining room, now decorated with what appear to be Dutch tiles but is in fact trompe-l'œil , contains a collection of small, mainly Dutch, paintings from
1972-484: 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
2030-415: 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 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
2088-540: 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
2146-639: 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
2204-416: 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
2262-399: 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
2320-468: 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
2378-450: 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
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2436-468: The neighbouring Mentmore Towers estate ). The Rothschild family had begun to acquire vast tracts of land in Buckinghamshire earlier in the century, on which they built a series of large mansions from 1852 onwards. Baron Mayer gave the house at Ascott to his nephew Leopold de Rothschild , who transformed it over the following decades into the substantial yet informal country house that it is today. Leopold de Rothschild , whose principal country residence
2494-468: 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
2552-521: 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
2610-502: 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
2668-562: The painting of the Madonna and Child with St. John by Andrea del Sarto of 1520. In 1936 the Billiards Room was transformed into a library to house the many volumes amassed by Anthony de Rothschild. One of the most comfortable rooms in the house, its book-lined walls are only interrupted by Gainsborough's full-length portrait of the Duchess of Richmond, and various other masterpieces. Standing on
2726-457: 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
2784-467: 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
2842-509: 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
2900-444: 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
2958-496: The south front of the house are paved areas of gardens in the style of Gertrude Jekyll , and from these across large areas of lawn are the terraced gardens. The dominating feature of these individual gardens is the clipped hedges, topiary and flowering shrubs. The largest feature of the garden is the bronze fountain representing " Venus in her shell chariot attended by cherubs ", by the American sculptor Thomas Waldo Story . Story
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#17330860863953016-488: 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
3074-492: The visitors. The match was something of a mismatch, with Gloucestershire scoring a massive 401/7, then bowling Buckinghamshire out for 77 to win the match by 324 runs. Ascott House, with some of its important art collection and a small part of the estate, was given in 1947 to the National Trust by Anthony de Rothschild. The National Trust market the property under the name "Ascott". However, as at nearby Waddesdon Manor ,
3132-406: Was Gunnersbury Park , used Ascott at first as a hunting box, but realising the limitations imposed by its modest size, in 1874 he employed the architect George Devey to enlarge it. The present half-timbered house is largely the result of that commission. Devey attempted to design a house that rambled as though it had grown and developed over centuries. The project became a lifetime work for Devey as
3190-511: 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
3248-448: Was also responsible for the fountain in the Dutch flower garden. This garden, so named for its displays of tulips in spring, is approached by descending a flight of steps through a rock garden , complete with dripping grotto and artificial stalagmites . In the centre of the garden Story's tall fountain, crowned by Cupid supported by dolphins, is surrounded by a formal bedding scheme. From
3306-576: Was not intended to faithfully reproduce that of an earlier era. Devey was a forerunner of the Arts and Crafts movement and had developed a rustic style of his own. Huge bay windows provide views over the Chiltern Hills . Multiple gables of varying heights with roof lines sweeping to different levels resemble those later designed by the more notable Edwin Lutyens . On the death of Mrs. Leopold de Rothschild in 1937
3364-422: 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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