Arbury Hall () is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

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 the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England, and the ancestral home of the Newdigate family, later the Newdigate-Newdegate and Fitzroy-Newdegate families.

History

The hall is built on the site of the former

Arbury Priory Arbury Priory was an Augustinian priory in the parish of Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire, England. The priory was founded early in the reign of Henry II (c.1154) by Ralph de Sudley and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The original endowment consiste ...

in a mixture of Tudor and 18th-century

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

, the latter being the work of Sir

Roger Newdigate Sir Roger Newdigate, 5th Baronet (30 May 1719 – 23 November 1806) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1742 and 1780. He was a collector of antiquities. Early life Newdigate was born in Arbury, Warwickshire, the ...

from designs by Henry Keene. The 19th-century author

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...

(Mary Anne Evans) was born on one of the estate farms in 1819, the daughter of the estate's land agent. In 1911, Sir Francis Alexander Newdigate Newdegate erected, at Arbury Hall, a monument to the memory of George Eliot.

Description

The hall is set in of parkland.Cooke, George Willis. ''George Eliot: A Critical Study of her Life, Writings and Philosophy''. Whitefish: Kessinger, 2004

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In the arts

George Eliot She immortalised Arbury Hall as "Cheverel Manor" in ''

Scenes of Clerical Life ''Scenes of Clerical Life'' is George Eliot's first published work of fiction, a collection of three short stories, published in book form; it was the first of her works to be released under her famous pseudonym. The stories were first publis ...

'', where it is the setting for "Mr Gilfil's Love Story". The film ''

Angels & Insects ''Angels & Insects'' is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Philip Haas and starring Mark Rylance, Patsy Kensit, and Kristin Scott Thomas. It was written by Philip and Belinda Haas with A. S. Byatt after her 1992 novella '' Morpho Eugenia'' (i ...

'' (1995) was shot entirely at Arbury Hall and within the grounds. Arbury Hall was also used as the fictional Hoxley Manor in the BBC TV series '' Land Girls'' (2009).

Ownership

* Edmund Anderson (1530–1605), who demolished the priory and built Arbury Hall. Custodians of Arbury Hall include:Wilkinson, R. (2006) Chronicles of the Newdegates and the Three Manors (1st Edition) Athena Press
* Sir Edmund Anderson (1567–1586) *John Newdegate (1586–1587) *Sir John Newdegate (1587–1610) *

John Newdigate John Newdigate (1600 – 29 November 1642) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1628 to 1629. Life Newdigate was the second child and eldest son of Sir John Newdigate of Arbury Hall, Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire and hi ...

(1610–1642) *

Sir Richard Newdigate, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Newdigate, 1st Baronet (17 September 1602 – 14 October 1678). was an English judge, landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660. Family Richard Newdigate was a younger son of Sir John Newdigate (5 March 1571 ...

(1642–1665) *

Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet (5 May 1644 – 4 January 1710) was an English landowner, entrepreneur, engineer, and politician who held the title of Commissioner for Assessment for Warwickshire, and served on the Warwickshire Commission o ...

(1665–1710) * Sir Richard Newdigate, 3rd Baronet (1710–1727) * Sir Edward Newdigate, 4th Baronet (1727–1734) * Sir Roger Newdigate, 5th Baronet (1734–1806) *

Francis Parker Newdigate Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places *Rural Mu ...

(1806–1835) * The Rt Hon. Charles Newdigate-Newdegate (1835–1887) * Lt Gen. Sir Edward Newdigate-Newdegate (1887–1902) * Sir Francis Alexander Newdigate-Newdegate (1902–1936) *The Hon. Mrs Lucia FitzRoy-Newdegate (1936–1950) * Francis Humphrey Maurice FitzRoy Newdegate, 3rd Viscount Daventry (1950–2000) *James Edward FitzRoy Newdegate, 4th Viscount Daventry (2000–present)

References

External links