nice house Lucy Pittaway

Lucy Pittaway

England’s stately homes often are grand estates in sprawling gardens, a glimpse into a bygone era. Although we have issues the other way with homelessness, let’s visit England’s stately homes.

Most of England’s stately homes were built to protect residents, with thick stone walls and narrow windows. That’s why many look like castles and some had moats to secure land from invasion.

The Tudor period was when people displayed their wealth, building grand halls, influenced by Renaissance-style architecture and art. The Georgian era saw estates in London and Bath add large windows and classical columns.

Chatsworth House (Derbyshire)

Bolton abbey Holly Francesca

This has been the seat of the Cavendish family for over 500 years, with stunning Elizabethan and Baroque architecture, and extensive gardens. This family also own Bolton Abbey (above) which holds mass grouse shoots that contributes to peat bog erosion and flooding, despite claiming environmental policies.

There was controversy recently when the estate admitted to ‘legally controlling stray cats’, rather than handing them in to feral cat charities. This came to light after dead cats and foxes were found close to snares.

Blenheim Palace (Oxfordshire)

This is where former Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born, a stunning example of English baroque architecture in extensive grounds. Designed by Capability Brown, do this virtual walking tour with Lucy Wyndham-Read around the gardens.

It’s still owned by the Churchill family, by the Duke of Marlborough. If you’re old enough, you’ll remember this party boy was all over the papers a few years back, for his wild ways. Leading the Happy Mondays singer to say ‘If I was born into dough, I’d have done nothing forever too’.

After coming out of jail, the Duke took part in a BBC documentary alongside other rich people, to spend three nights homeless. On the second night, he demanded to be put up in a hotel! He now campaigns for the Reform party and is apparently friends with Donald Trump.

Grand Stately Homes of Northamptonshire

Often called ‘the county of squires and spires’ due to having more historic houses than any other county, Northamptonshire is also home to many stately homes and ancestral seats.

Boughton House is one of England’s best-preserved stately homes, set within beautiful gardens. Greatly influenced by French architecture, it’s kind of known as ‘England’s Versailles’. The grounds feature tree-lined avenues and water fountains.

Located near Kettering, dogs are only allowed in certain areas on leads (they do not recommend bringing them, as there are no shady areas, if the weather warms up). It’s not good anyway to leave dogs in cars anyway, but here the car park is in full sun.

Find a full list of Northamptonshire’s stately homes.

One of the best-known of course is Althorp House, the ancestral home of Princess Diana (alas it makes most money today by shooting parties, overseen by her brother Earl Spencer). Set in 550 acres of walled parkland within a 13,000 acre estate, dogs at not allowed (excluding guide and assistance dogs).

Environmental writer Guy Shrubsole says it’s not good for just a few people to own our land, as it ends up affecting politics like rights-of-way and not prosecuting those who illegally kill hen harriers, to pursue hunts on private land.

Britain’s largest landowner owns 288,000 acres in Northamptonshire and Scotland, and remains stupendously powerful. When John Major sought to appoint the chiefs of his police authority, the Duke was one of the men he chose.

Our favourite stately home in the county is Rushton Triangular Lodge, a quirky building just a few miles from Kettering, on a lonely lane. An homage to the landowner’s Catholic faith, the ‘three’ design and Bible quotation, is said to represent the Holy Trinity.

Sir Thomas Tresham had a sad life. One of his 11 children died in an infamous building collapse. And after his death, his son died of natural causes, before standing trial during the Gunpowder Plot. After he died, he was beheaded anyway, and displayed as a traitor to the King.

The Resting Place of Princess Diana

Princess Diana lies sleeping on her island on the Althorp estate. In England, we have differences of opinion on the Monarchy (tourism does not pay for our monarchy, when the huge tax-free income from the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster are taken into account – some of this land is actually rented out for profit to the cash-strapped NHS).

But most of us loved Diana. By her own admission not an academic student, she grew too tall to become a ballet dancer, so instead became a kindergarten teacher, before marrying Prince Charles.

Likely to be remembered for reducing stigma to AIDS patients (who she would hug and kiss) and her work to stop landmines in Angola. It was clear she would not like to be remembered for her cooking. A former royal chef noted with fondness that ‘She was just the worst, a terrible person in the kitchen!’)

Northamptonshire is also where Elizabeth Barnard is laid to rest. You may not recognise her name, but she was the last living descendent of William Shakespeare.

The 500-year old Tudor manor house of Abington Park (her former home) is now a museum (after a brief stint as an asylum run by a progressive doctor).

Stories of Stately Homes (in Buckinghamshire)

Alan Turing

Bletchley Park is the country estate house where clever boffins broke codes during World War II to decrypt German army & air force messages. Some say their work shortened the war by years.

Bletchley Park

The Appalling Treatment of Alan Turing

Maths graduate Alan Turing likely saved millions of lives. Yet in 1952 was prosecuted for being gay, and had to accept chemical castration as an alternative to prison.

He died from a cyanide-laced apple though no-one knows whether it was suicide, murder or an accident (he used to conduct experiments in his house). In recent years, he received a public apology from Gordon Brown (when Prime Minister) and a pardon from the Queen, for the appalling treatment he received.

Site of the Controversial Profumo Affair

Another controversial stately home in Buckinghamshire is Cliveden House, the scent of the 1961 Profumo Affair at the peak of the Cold War. When it was found that an MP was having an affair with 19-year old Christine Keeler (who was also accused of having an affair with a Russian spy).

Mandy Rice-Davies (accused with having an affair with Lord Astor whose family owned Clivedon House) became famed for her remark during the trial when the defence counsel suggested she was lying. She replied ‘Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?

A French-Style English Stately Home

Waddesdon manor

Another Buckinghamshire stately home is Waddesdon Manor, built in the style of a French chateau, with stunning gardens to reflect the wealth of the Rothschild family. Now owned by the National Trust.

How do Stately Homes Fund Themselves?

Despite the ‘them and us’ culture, stately homes are historic, and some families charge for peole to visit, to keep up with all the huge bills.

They would do well to contact Mitchell & Dickinson, a company that specialises in massively reducing bills and energy for historic homes, using expert eco methods (the co-founder once built his own solar boat and sailed it round the British Isles and has also created England’s best free carbon calculator – he’s the son of ecological writer Satish Kumar).

Some stately homes even hire out their homes for TV. Highclere Castle is an obvious example, the setting for the TV series Downton Abbey. But again it also offers the land for shooting innocent creatures, in return for money from local agencies.

Longleat Estate again has attracted controversy, when it was found to be killing healthy lion cubs , after over-breeding them for ‘tourists’ at the safari park. The Elizabeth manor house’s owner Lord Bath was also controversial, known for his many ‘wifelets’.

Issues with England’s Stately Homes?

pheasants Holly Astle

Holly Astle

It’s not jealousy, nobody ‘blames’ or envies anyone being brought up in huge houses and gardens, which no doubt are hugely expensive to upkeep.

The problems remain however that by most of these estates burning heather and taking money for grouse shoots, it’s people on the bottom rung that suffer. If royal members visit people who have had their homes sank in floods – often it’s partly caused by the people doing the grouse shoots, for money and so-called ‘fun’.

Environmental writer Guy Shrubsole (who specialises in knowing how a tiny percentage of people in England own nearly all our land), says this is part of the issue. As it ends up affecting policy like hunting rules, rights-of-way and not coming down hard on those who illegally kill endangered species like hen harriers, on private land, so nobody will ever see.

Britain’s largest landowner owns 288,000 acres in Northamptonshire and Scotland, and remains stupendously powerful. When John Major sought to appoint the chiefs of his police authority, the Duke was one of the men he chose.

Landowners also chair some of Britain’s most powerful quangos, including the Countryside Commission, charged with defending us from their excesses. George Monbiot

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