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Hatfield House is a
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 Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...
set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I. It is a prime example of Jacobean architecture. The estate includes extensive grounds and surviving parts of an earlier palace. The house is currently the home of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury. It is open to the public.


History

An earlier building on the site was the Royal Palace of Hatfield. Only part of this still exists a short distance from the present house. That palace was the childhood home and favourite residence of
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...
. Built in 1497 by the Archbishop of Canterbury (formerly Bishop of Ely),
King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort ...
's minister, John Cardinal Morton, it comprised four wings in a square surrounding a central courtyard. The palace was seized by
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagr ...
with other church properties. The nearby parish church of St Etheldreda's in Old Hatfield once served the bishop's palace as well as the village. Henry VIII's children, King Edward VI and the future Queen Elizabeth I, spent their youth at Hatfield Palace. His eldest daughter, who later reigned as Queen Mary I, lived there between 1533 and 1536, when she was sent to wait on the then Princess Elizabeth as punishment for refusing to recognise Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn and his religious reforms. In 1548, when she was only 15 years old, Elizabeth was under suspicion of having illegally agreed to marry Thomas Seymour. The house and her servants were seized by Edward VI's agent, Robert Tyrwhit, and she was interrogated there. She successfully defended her conduct with wit and defiance. Seymour was executed in 1549 for numerous other crimes against the crown. After her two months of imprisonment in the Tower of London by her sister, Queen Mary, Elizabeth returned to Hatfield. The
Queen Elizabeth Oak The Queen Elizabeth Oak is a large sessile oak tree (''Quercus petraea'') in Cowdray Park near the village of Lodsworth in the Western Weald, West Sussex, England. It lies within the South Downs National Park. It has a girth of , and is about ...
on the grounds of the estate is said to be the location where Elizabeth was told she was queen following Mary's death, but is considered unlikely as Mary died in November. In November 1558, Elizabeth held her first
Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...
in the Great Hall. Hatfield House is a popular tourist attraction because it has so many objects associated with Queen Elizabeth I, including gloves and a pair of silk stockings that are believed to have been the first in England. The library displays a long illuminated parchment roll showing the pedigree of the queen with ancestors back to Adam and Eve. The Marble Hall holds the " Rainbow Portrait" of Elizabeth. Elizabeth's successor, King James I, did not like the palace. It was included in the jointure estate of his wife Anne of Denmark. In 1607, King James gave it to his chief minister, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, in exchange for Theobalds, which was the Cecils' family home on the current site of
Cedars Park, Broxbourne Cedars Park is a historic public park originally the site of Theobalds Palace, which was King James I's favourite residence. The park is managed by Broxbourne Council and located in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England. It has received a Green Fla ...
. Cecil, who liked building, tore down three wings of the royal palace (the back and sides of the square) in 1608 and used the bricks to build the present structure. The richly carved wooden Grand Staircase and the rare stained glass window in the private chapel are among the house's original Jacobean features. Cecil employed Robert Lemynge to supervise the construction, with input from the royal surveyor Simon Basil, and Inigo Jones who visited in October 1609. Cecil's descendant,
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen ...
, was three times
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
during the closing years of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
's reign. The city of Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) was founded in his time and named for him. He is also known for often putting members of his family into the government while prime minister. As his first name was Robert, this habit is sometimes said to have given rise to the popular expression ' Bob's your uncle' (meaning roughly 'It's all right, everything is sure to come off'). During World War II, Hatfield House was the location of the first Civil Resettlement Unit and acted as headquarters for the scheme. CRUs were created to help repatriated British
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
transition back to civilian life and the luxurious setting of Hatfield was considered very beneficial to these men. On 12 July 1945, the
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...
and queen visited the CRU at Hatfield, which generated significant news coverage.


Gardens

The Gardens, covering , date from the early 17th century and were laid out by John Tradescant the elder. Tradescant visited Europe and brought back trees and plants that had never previously been grown in England. The gardens included orchards, fountains, scented plants, water parterres, terraces, herb gardens and a foot maze. They were neglected in the 18th century, but restoration began in Victorian times and continues under the present Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury. During World War I, the grounds were used to test the first British tanks. An area was dug with trenches and craters and covered with barbed-wire to represent no man's land and German trench lines on the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
. To commemorate this, the only surviving Mark I tank was sited at Hatfield from 1919 to 1970 before being moved to The Tank Museum, Bovington. The Rhodesian Light Infantry Regimental Association has placed its 'Troopie' memorial statue on the grounds of Hatfield House due to the long association of the Cecil family with
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally k ...
. Around its base is a roll of regimental members ('troopies') who fell in the
Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three forc ...
and several inscriptions, including 'In reconciliation and hope for future peace in Zimbabwe'.


Tours

The State Rooms can be seen in the midweek guided tours and visitors can look around in their own time at weekends. On Friday, the Garden Connoisseur's Day, the house is open for guided tours and pre-booked specialist groups. There are five miles of marked trails.


Film credits

Hatfield House has been used for
location filming In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...
on a number of film and television productions, including: '' Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes'' (1984); '' Orlando'' (1992); ''Batman'' (1989); '' Tomb Raider: Underworld'', '' Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life'', '' Rise of the Tomb Raider'' and '' Shadow of the Tomb Raider''; '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005); '' The New World'' (2005); '' Elizabeth: The Golden Age'' (2007); '' Hot Fuzz'' (2007); '' Shakespeare in Love'' (1998); '' Dustbin Baby''; '' Sherlock Holmes'' (2009); '' Agatha Christie's Marple'' (2010); '' Get Him to the Greek'' (2010); '' Antiques Roadshow'' (2010); '' MasterChef Australia'' (2010); ''Garden Secrets'' (2010); '' Royal Upstairs Downstairs'' (2011); '' My Week with Marilyn'' (2010); ''
Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
'' (2004); '' Mr. Holmes'' (2015); '' Doctor Thorne''; '' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'' (2016); ''
The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differen ...
''; '' Breathe'' (2017); '' All the Money in the World'' (2017); '' Trust'';'' The Favourite'' (2018); " Sucker" (2019); '' Enola Holmes''; '' Rebecca'' (2020); '' Bridgerton'' (2020); '' Cromwell''; ''
Henry VIII and His Six Wives ''Henry VIII and His Six Wives'' is a 1972 British historical film adaptation, directed by Waris Hussein, of the BBC 1970 six-part miniseries '' The Six Wives of Henry VIII''. Keith Michell, who plays Henry VIII in the TV series, also portrays t ...
''; ''
The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...
'' (1998); '' V for Vendetta''; '' Mortdecai'' (2015); and '' Paddington 2''.


References


Further reading

* Cecil, Lord David. ''The Cecils of Hatfield House: An English Ruling Family''. Houghton Mifflin, 1973.


External links

*
A detailed historical record of Hatfield Palace

Photos tagged Hatfield House
at Flickr {{Authority control Country houses in Hertfordshire Gardens in Hertfordshire History of Hertfordshire Historic house museums in Hertfordshire Grade I listed houses Grade I listed palaces Grade I listed buildings in Hertfordshire ! Prime ministerial homes in the United Kingdom Tourist attractions in Hertfordshire Tudor royal palaces in England Houses completed in 1611 Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom 1611 establishments in England Real tennis venues Anne of Denmark