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Hewell Grange is a former
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 ...
in
Tardebigge Tardebigge () is a village in Worcestershire, England. The village is most famous for the Tardebigge Locks, a flight of 30 canal locks that raise the Worcester and Birmingham Canal over over the Lickey Ridge. It lies in the county of Worcester ...
,
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. "One of the most important late 19th century country houses in England", the mansion was built between 1884 and 1891 by
George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...
and
Thomas Garner Thomas Garner (1839–1906) was one of the leading English Gothic revival architects of the Victorian era. He is known for his almost 30-year partnership with architect George Frederick Bodley. Early life Born at Wasperton Hill Farm in Warwi ...
for Robert Windsor-Clive, later first
Earl of Plymouth Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The first creation was in 1675 for Charles FitzCharles, one of the dozens of illegitimate ...
. Constructed in the
Jacobethan The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...
style, it was "perhaps the last Victorian prodigy house". After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the third earl sold the Hewell estate to the Crown and it was redeveloped as a prison. The mansion was used to house young offenders, and later low-risk prisoners, while adult prisons were built in the grounds. The site was subsequently consolidated as
HM Prison Hewell HM Prison Hewell is a multiple security category men's prison in the village of Tardebigge in Worcestershire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. On 16 October 2019, the Ministry of Justice announced that HMP H ...
. In 2019, the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...
announced the closure of the Category D open prison housed in Hewell Grange, after a highly critical report by
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons is the head of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the senior inspector of prisons, young offender institutions and immigration service detention and removal centres in England and Wales. The current chief inspe ...
. The Windsor-Clive family descended from
Walter FitzOther Walter FitzOther ( fl. 1086; died ''after'' 1099) was a feudal baron of Eton in Buckinghamshire (now in Berkshire) and was Constable of Windsor Castle in Berkshire (directly across the River Thames from Eton), a principal royal residence of King W ...
,
Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
of
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...
during the reign of
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
. They came to Tardebigge in the 16th century and over the next two centuries expanded their land holdings in Worcestershire, Shropshire and South Wales. The development of the
South Wales Coalfield The South Wales Coalfield ( cy, Maes glo De Cymru) extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, espec ...
in the 18th and 19th centuries saw their wealth greatly increase, as the coal was transported worldwide from their ports at
Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
and
Penarth Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a weal ...
. At his coming of age in 1878 Robert Windsor-Clive inherited some 30,500 acres and an income from ground rents and port royalties which allowed him to undertake the building of Hewell Grange at a time when many landed aristocrats were facing retrenchment due to the Agricultural Depression. The Windsor-Clives lived in their new home for less than 50 years before consolidating their estates in Shropshire in the mid-20th century. Hewell Grange is a
Grade I listed building 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 ...
, its structure, interiors and setting having survived remarkably well despite over 70 years of institutional use. The park surrounding the house was landscaped by both
Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...
and
Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...
and is graded II* on the
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register is managed by Historic England ...
. The lake is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI). The ruins of an earlier hall stand near to the lake.


History

The Tardebigge estate was originally a
grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...
for
Bordesley Abbey Bordesley Abbey was a 12th-century Cistercian abbey near the town of Redditch, in Worcestershire, England. The abbey's foundation was an act of Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, who gave the monks of Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire some ...
and came to the Windsor family in 1542 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Windsors came originally from the south, holding the ancient barony of Windsor. They claimed descent from
Walter FitzOther Walter FitzOther ( fl. 1086; died ''after'' 1099) was a feudal baron of Eton in Buckinghamshire (now in Berkshire) and was Constable of Windsor Castle in Berkshire (directly across the River Thames from Eton), a principal royal residence of King W ...
, first
Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
of
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...
during the reign of
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
. The
Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...
records that Andrew, Lord Windsor, was obliged 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 disa ...
to exchange his historic manor at
Stanwell Stanwell is a village close to two of the three main towns in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, about west of central London. A small corner of its land is vital industrial land serving Heathrow Airport – most of the rest is residential ...
, near Windsor, for the Bordesley Abbey estate, and did so “much against his will”. By the 17th century, Thomas Hickman-Windsor had been elevated to the Earldom of Plymouth. His grandson,
Other Windsor, 2nd Earl of Plymouth Other Windsor, 2nd Earl of Plymouth (27 August 1679 – 26 December 1727) was a British peer, styled Lord Windsor from his father's death in 1684 to 1687. He was a Hanoverian Tory, supportive of the Hanoverian Succession. The son of Other Winds ...
, commissioned a country house at Tardebigge which was built around 1711–1712. It has been attributed to
Francis Smith of Warwick Francis Smith of Warwick (1672–1738) was an English master-builder and architect, much involved in the construction of country houses in the Midland counties of England. Smith of Warwick may refer also to his brothers, or his son. Architectura ...
or his brother William and was redesigned by Thomas Cundy in 1815–1816. The surrounding estate was landscaped, firstly on the advice of
William Shenstone William Shenstone (18 November 171411 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, '' The Leasowes''. Biography Son of Thomas Shenstone and Anne Penn, ...
, then by
Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...
and lastly by
Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...
. The 19th century saw the Windsors prosper, partly through marriage, and partly through industrial development. Robert Windsor-Clive, on his coming of age in 1878, inherited 30,500 acres in Worcestershire, Shropshire and South Wales, including three major houses, the old Hewel Grange, St Fagans Castle on his Glamorgan estates, and
Oakly Park Oakly Park, Bromfield, Shropshire, England is a country house dating from the 18th century. In the early 19th century, the house was restored and extended by Charles Robert Cockerell, Surveyor to the Bank of England for his friend Robert Henry ...
on his Shropshire lands. The Welsh property was much the most valuable, the opening of the
Penarth Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a weal ...
and
Barry Docks Barry Docks ( cy, Dociau'r Barri) is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. They were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alterna ...
for the transportation of coal brought the family immense royalties. Shortly after his marriage Windsor-Clive determined on reconstructing the old grange and engaged
George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...
and
Thomas Garner Thomas Garner (1839–1906) was one of the leading English Gothic revival architects of the Victorian era. He is known for his almost 30-year partnership with architect George Frederick Bodley. Early life Born at Wasperton Hill Farm in Warwi ...
, of the ecclesiastical firm Bodley & Garner to prepare estimates. These proved to be so high that he instead resolved on building a new house, on a site selected by the landscape architect Edward Milner. The old house was partially demolished, but its ruins remain as an eyecatcher by the lake. Robert Windsor-Clive married Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline Paget, always known as Gay, in 1883. Gay was the daughter of Augustus Paget, a diplomat, and his German-born wife,
Walburga Walpurga or Walburga ( ang, Wealdburg, la, Valpurga, Walpurga, Walpurgis, sv, Valborg; c. AD 71025 February 777 or 779), also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May c. 870 ...
, diarist, artist and intimate friend 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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
. Windsor-Clive held a number of, relatively minor, political offices, serving as
Paymaster General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Paymaster General is Jeremy Quin MP. History The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the posit ...
under
Lord 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 y ...
from 1890 to 1892, and
First Commissioner of Works The First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings was a position within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and subsequent to 1922, within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irel ...
under
Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...
from 1902 to 1905. He also had an array of local positions, related to his estates, including Mayor of Cardiff,
Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan. After 1729, all Lords Lieutenant were also Custos Rotulorum of Glamorgan. The post was abolished on 31 March 1974. Lord Lieutenants of Glamorgan to 1974 *Henry Herbert, 2nd E ...
and Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Glamorganshire Artillery Volunteers. Windsor-Clive and his wife pursued a wide range of artistic interests. He was a
Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
of the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, a long-serving chairman of the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
and author of what was the standard work on
John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...
. Lady Windsor established an
Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
workshop at Hewell, decorated some of the rooms in partnership with her mother, and enjoyed a long friendship with
Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...
, who painted her portrait, a "masterpiece of
symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...
art" which hung on the stairway at Hewell. The Windsor-Clives were members of
The Souls The Souls was a small loosely-knit but distinctive elite social and intellectual group in the United Kingdom from 1885 to the turn of the century. Many of the most distinguished British politicians and intellectuals of the time were members. Th ...
, a grouping of intellectual aristocrats, with Gay Windsor-Clive conducting a long, and acknowledged, affair with
George Wyndham George Wyndham, PC (29 August 1863 – 8 June 1913) was a British Conservative politician, statesman, man of letters, and one of The Souls. Background and education Wyndham was the elder son of the Honourable Percy Wyndham, third son of Ge ...
, the group's most prominent member. The Souls held relaxed attitudes to extra-marital liaisons. The novelist
Elinor Glyn Elinor Glyn ( Sutherland; 17 October 1864 – 23 September 1943) was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction, which was considered scandalous for its time, although her works are relatively tame by modern stand ...
, herself a long-term lover of another Soul, George Curzon, recorded her impressions of their country house weekends; "the good-looking unattached men had a wonderful time...while many husbands were the lovers of their friends' wives". Windsor-Clive's first encounter with the firm of Bodley & Garner is recorded in his wife's memoir of her husband, privately published in 1932: "Although I first discussed the plans with Mr Bodley in the very small dog kennel of the Athenaeum Club, it was Mr Garner who came to see us to discuss the details and the designs from the very beginning were is. The resulting house has been described as "one of the most important late 19th century country houses in England", and is Bodley and Garner's most significant country house. The house was hugely expensive and building was undertaken at a leisurely pace. The foundations were laid in 1884, and the Windsor-Clives moved in during 1891, when the house was still incomplete. The building was technologically advanced; one of the first in the country to be lit by electricity and with
hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...
lifts powered from the water tower in the park. The Windsor-Clives entertained at Hewell on an appropriate scale, with guests including Lord Salisbury, the Shah of Persia, and many members of the British Royal Family.
Ferdinand de Rothschild Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (17 December 1839 – 17 December 1898), also known as Ferdinand James Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild, was a British Jewish banker, art collector and politician who was a member of the prominent Rothschild family of ...
, the builder of the even grander
Waddesdon Manor Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation ...
and another Soul, suggested that Hewell was the only modern English house he really envied. But the house was obsolete almost as it was being built. Lady Windsor, in her memoir of her husband, wrote "had we any idea how quickly the circumstances of life in this country, and indeed throughout the world, would change, I do not think that we should have dreamt of building a house of that size".
Charles Robert Ashbee Charles Robert Ashbee (17 May 1863 – 23 May 1942) was an English architect and designer who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement, which took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the soc ...
, an architect and family friend, visiting in 1913 described it as "a noble example of something now I suppose extinct". The estate remained a seat of the Windsor-Clive family (who were made Earls of Plymouth) until just after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The death of the 2nd Earl, Ivor Windsor-Clive in 1943, saw his son inherit the Windsor estates. Heavy
death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...
forced him to sell Hewell Grange and the ground rents from his land in Barry, Penarth and Grangetown. St Fagans Castle was donated to
Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, branded as simply Amgueddfa Cymru (formerly the National Museums and Galleries of Wales and legally National Museum of Wales), is a Welsh Government sponsored body that comprises seven museums in Wales: * N ...
. The Hewell Grange estate was sold to the state which established a
borstal A Borstal was a type of youth detention centre in the United Kingdom, several member states of the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland. In India, such a detention centre is known as a Borstal school. Borstals were run by HM Prison Service ...
at the house. This operated from 1946 to 1982 and then as a
Young Offender Institution In criminal justice systems, a youth detention center, known as a juvenile detention center (JDC),Stahl, Dean, Karen Kerchelich, and Ralph De Sola. ''Abbreviations Dictionary''. CRC Press, 20011202. Retrieved 23 August 2010. , . juvenile de ...
until 1991, when it became HM Prison Hewell Grange, a Category D
open prison An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...
for adults. The prison was closed in 2020, after a number of incidents of violence, and a report by Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons which condemned the facility as "squalid, demeaning and depressing". Hewell Grange and its gardens have previously, although rarely, been open to the public through the
Heritage Open Days Heritage Open Days (also known as HODs) is an annual celebration of England's architecture and culture that allows visitors free access to historical landmarks that are either not usually open to the public, would normally charge an entrance fee, ...
and the National Gardens schemes. As at 2020 no public access is permitted, although access to the lake is possible.


Architecture and description

Hewell Grange is constructed to an
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
''H''-plan and built in the
Jacobethan The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...
style.
Montacute House Montacute House is a late Elizabethan mansion with a garden in Montacute, South Somerset. An example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical, and one of few prodigy house ...
, Somerset is the main influence, with elements of Charlton Park, Wiltshire and
Bramshill Bramshill is a civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. Its name has become synonymous with the Police Staff College, Bramshill located in Bramshill House. Bramshill forms part of the district of Hart. It is bordered by the Rivers Whit ...
in Hampshire. Alan Brooks and
Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
, in their ''Worcestershire'' volume of the
Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published b ...
series, describe it as "perhaps the last Victorian prodigy house". The house is of
Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...
Red Sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) b ...
, of three storeys, with a central lantern and towers with pyramidal roofs. The entrance front is recessed, with a two-storey porch and a
porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...
. The chapel in the porch contains carving by
Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...
. The garden front is a long, nine-bay, range. The interior is
Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...
in style. Bodley had originally planned Jacobean-style decoration, but was over-ruled by Windsor-Clive who insisted on Elizabethan and Renaissance designs. The house is dominated by the massive Great Hall, comprising half the total space of the house. The elaborate decoration is largely "well-preserved". Entrance to the house is through a vestibule into the Great Hall. This enormous room runs along the whole of the entrance front and is two-storeys high.
Colonnades In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curve ...
of marble and
alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...
terminate each end. Brooks and Pevsner conclude that "other rooms are insignificant compared to the overwhelming display of the hall". The billiard room, dining room and Lord Windsor's study all lie off the hall. Lady Windsor's sitting room is decorated with a painted ceiling copied from the
Ducal Palace, Mantua The Palazzo Ducale di Mantova ("Ducal Palace") is a group of buildings in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy, built between the 14th and the 17th century mainly by the noble family of Gonzaga as their royal residence in the capital of their Duch ...
and much of the Italianate decoration drew on sketches made by the Windsors on their Italian tours. A grand staircase gives access to the upper bedroom floors, including Lady Windsor's dressing room, decorated by her mother with murals evoking Beethoven's ''
Pastoral Symphony The Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the ''Pastoral Symphony'' (German: ''Pastorale''), is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and completed in 1808. One of Beethoven's few works containing explicitly programmatic con ...
''. Many of the other murals and painted ceilings were undertaken by a pair of Bavarian artists, Behr and Virsching. Hewell Grange is a
Grade I listed building 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 ...
. Its
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...
listing describes it as "an outstanding example of a late-Victorian country house,
ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...
an interior of remarkable quality,
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
survives substantially intact". Its park and gardens are listed Grade II*. The lake is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI). The park contains a large number of listed buildings: three lodges, the North and South at the north-west gate, and the Paper Mill Lodge to the south; a range of estate buildings including the
water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...
, home farm,
game larder A game larder, also sometimes known as a deer or venison larder, deer, venison or game house, game pantry or game store, is a small domestic outbuilding where the carcasses of game, including deer, game birds, hares and rabbits, are hung to mature ...
, ice house and
walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate ...
; three bridges on the lake, one to the north, one to the south and a footbridge giving access to an island; a
real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...
court, with two adjacent bridges; and various ornamental features, including a temple, gates to the French Garden and five statues.
Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
's original ''Worcestershire'' guide from 1968 records the presence in the garden of an Italian
wellhead A wellhead is the component at the surface of an oil or gas well that provides the structural and pressure-containing interface for the drilling and production equipment. The primary purpose of a wellhead is to provide the suspension point and ...
brought back by the Windsors from the Palazzo Marcello in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
but it is no longer in situ.


Gallery

In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire south side of the great hall 31295001575223 0325.jpg, The Great Hall - south side In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire the south end of the great hall 31295001575223 0323.jpg, The Great Hall - south end In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire the great hall and its galleries 31295001575223 0322.jpg, The Great Hall - galleries In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire the garden vestibule 31295001575223 0329.jpg, The garden vestibule In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire the grand stairway 31295001575223 0326.jpg, The Grand Staircase In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire the pierced balustrades of the great stairway 31295001575223 0327.jpg, The Grand Staircase - balustrades In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire the south-west gallery 31295001575223 0324.jpg, The south-west Gallery In English Homes Vol 1 Hewell Grange Worcestershire the small dining room 31295001575223 0328.jpg, The Small Dining Room


Footnotes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{Cite book , last=Pevsner , first=Nikolaus , author-link = Nikolaus Pevsner , title=Worcestershire , url = https://www.worldcat.org/title/worcestershire-pevsner/oclc/920896182 , year=1968 , publisher=
Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Hewell Grange Conservation Area Appraisal prepared by Bromsgrove Borough CouncilHewell Grange entry at Parks & Gardens UKHewell Grange Heritage Assessment prepared by Bromsgrove Borough Council
Grade I listed buildings in Worcestershire Country houses in Worcestershire Jacobethan architecture George Frederick Bodley buildings Houses completed in 1891 Grade I listed houses Defunct real tennis venues