Holdenby House is a historic
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
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
, traditionally pronounced, and sometimes spelt, Holmby. The house is situated in the parish of
Holdenby
Holdenby is an English village and civil parish about north-west of Northampton in West Northamptonshire. The parish population measured by the 2011 census was 170. The village name means "Halfdan's/Haldan's farm/settlement".
Prominent building ...
, six miles (10 km) northwest of
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
and close to
Althorp
Althorp (popularly pronounced ) is a Grade I listed stately home and estate in the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, England of about . By road it is about northwest of the county town of Northampton and about northwest of c ...
. It is a
Grade II* 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 ...
building.
History
The house was completed in 1583 by the
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 ...
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
, Sir
Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton KG (1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason.
Early years
Sir ...
, who refused to sleep a night in the mansion until
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".
El ...
had slept there. It was one of the largest
prodigy house
Prodigy houses are large and showy English country houses built by courtiers and other wealthy families, either "noble palaces of an awesome scale" or "proud, ambitious heaps" according to taste. The prodigy houses stretch over the period ...
s of the
Tudor period
The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in History of England, England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in Englan ...
, rivalling in size both
Audley End
Audley End House is a largely early 17th-century country house outside Saffron Walden, Essex, England. It is a prodigy house, known as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England.
Audley End is now one-third of its original size, but is sti ...
and
Theobalds
Theobalds House (also known as Theobalds Palace) in the parish of Cheshunt in the English county of Hertfordshire, was a significant stately home and (later) royal palace of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Set in extensive parkland, it was a r ...
, and was reputed to occupy approximately 78,750 square feet (7,300 m²), although this probably included the two great courtyards around which it was built. The
facades were symmetrical, with mullioned windows and open
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
s, reflecting the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
style of architecture gradually spreading from
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. Hatton died in 1591.
In 1607 the
mansion
A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...
was bought by Elizabeth's successor
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
. His wife
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...
stayed in August 1608.
In February 1647, after the
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...
,
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
was brought to Holdenby by the Scots and handed over to the English
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
. He remained a prisoner there until June 1647 when
Cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
George Joyce
Cornet George Joyce (born 1618) was a low-ranking officer in the Parliamentary New Model Army during the English Civil War.
Between 2 and 5 June 1647, while the New Model Army was assembling for rendezvous at the behest of the recently formed ...
seized him and took him to
Newmarket in the name of the
New Model Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...
. Parliament later sold the estate to Captain
Adam Baynes
Adam Baynes (''bapt''. 1622; died 1671) was a Parliamentarian army officer and MP for Leeds during the Commonwealth, and as such the first MP for the city. He was later also MP for Appleby. He enjoyed the patronage of John Lambert, who he ser ...
, who demolished the house almost entirely except for a small domestic wing.
In 1709, Holdenby was bought by the
Marlborough family who in turn sold it to their kin the
Clifden
Clifden (, meaning "stepping stones") is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Cap ...
family whose descendants in the female line, the Lowthers, still own the property . The Clifdens had a new house built in the style of the older mansion, incorporating the older mansion's remains but being only about one eighth of its size.
The first phase of the new house was designed by the architects
Richard Carpenter and
William Slater William, Bill, Billy or Willie Slater may refer to:
* William Slater (architect) (1819–1872), English architect
* William Slater (cricketer) (1790–1852), English cricketer
* William Slater (swimmer) (born 1940), Canadian swimmer
* William A. S ...
and built in 1873–75.
A second phase was designed by
Walter Mills and built in 1877–78.
, all that remains of Hatton's great house are two
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 ...
archways and the kitchen wing incorporated into the Victorian rebuild, now standing on a
lawn
A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. L ...
, which once gave access to the courtyards; a near-identical third arch bears the date 1659 and so must have been built for Baynes, the
Cromwellian
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
owner.
The gardens are listed Grade I.
A door salvaged from the demolition of Holdenby palace is believed to be inside Morningside Cottage, a grade II listed building in the nearby village of
Creaton
Creaton is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England.
Location
The village is north-west of the town of Northampton and south-east of the city of Leicester, along the A5199, formerly designated as the A50 trunk road. Th ...
.
Filming location
In July 2011, the exterior of Holdenby House was transformed as the location of
Satis House
''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
in
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
’s
adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
’s ''
Great Expectations
''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
''. Parts of the film ''
Biggles
James Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the title character and hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). Biggles made his first appearance ...
'' (1986) were filmed at Holdenby. The house featured in a 2020 episode of ''An American Aristocrat's Guide to Great Estates''.
Functions and visits
The estate is a private residence which is available as a corporate and wedding venue and is opened to the public on a limited and paid basis. Other activities include a
falconry
Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...
centre.
Falconry
at official website
References
Further reading
* Whyte Melville G. J
'Holby House'
Ch.XXVII of the historical novel ''Holby House: a Tale of Old Northamptonshire'', written in 1859, reconstructs the house's appearance during the captivity of Charles I.
External links
Holdenby House
Official Website
{{coord, 52.3039, -0.9850, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Houses completed in 1583
Country houses in Northamptonshire
Gardens in Northamptonshire
Grade II* listed buildings in Northamptonshire