Horton Hall, known locally as Horton House, was a stone-built Georgian
stately home
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 ...
, now demolished, located on a 3,764 acre
estate stretching across nine parishes on the
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 ...
and
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
borders.
History
The earliest entry for
Horton Horton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Horton Glacier, Adelaide Island, Antarctica
* Horton Ledge, Queen Elizabeth Land, Antarctica
Australia
* Horton, Queensland, a town and locality in the Bundaberg Region
* Horton River (Australia), ...
can be found in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'' from 1086, when Odbert held 2 hides "in Hortone". The land passed down to his son Alouf de Merke in the following century but it is not until the early 14th century that Ralph de Botyler is certified
Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
of Horton, implying the existence of a
messuage
In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...
of some significance. The manor passed to John Mortimer of
Grendon who passed it on to Roger Salisbury, commemorated in 1492 by a brass plaque in
St. Mary's Church at Horton. Roger's grand-daughter Mary married
William Parr, uncle to
Henry VIII's sixth and last queen,
Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...
. Having become Lord of the Manor, William was created Baron Parr of Horton in 1543 and is memorialised with his wife Mary in a fine alabaster altar tomb in Horton Church. William had made
Maud Parr his eldest daughter aged eight his heir in 1517. She was promised to the ten year old Ralph Lane and William saw over them, and their later marriage, until Ralph's twentieth birthday.
Ownership passed to the
first Earl of Manchester Henry Montagu in the early 17th Century. Over the next 160 years, six generations of the Montagu family added to the house and extended the grounds. An estate map of 1622 reveals a sizeable Tudor mansion built around two courtyards and an octagonal tower in its southeastern corner, the birth place of
Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax
Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1661 – 19 May 1715), was an English statesman and poet. He was the grandson of the 1st Earl of Manchester and was eventually ennobled himself, first as Baron Halifax in 1700 and later as Earl ...
, who later established the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
. By 1721, the Montagus had set about developing the house and estate, surrounding the house with
formal gardens
Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. ...
in keeping with their growing influence both locally and in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. The last Montagu to live at Horton,
George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax
George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, (6 October 1716 – 8 June 1771) was a British statesman of the Georgian era. Due to his success in extending commerce in the Americas, he became known as the "father of the colonies". President of th ...
, extended the house even further commencing around 1742, eventually completely replacing the original medieval edifice with a grand
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
mansion designed by
Daniel Garrett
Daniel Garrett (died 1753) was a British architect who worked on the Burlington Estate, Culloden Tower, Raby Castle, and Banqueting House.
History
Garrett started as a clerk of works, then in 1735 set up his own practice in the North of Eng ...
, completed by
Thomas Wright after 1753, when Garrett died. Contemporary drawings reveal a central
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
and two bows topped by domes, the latter observed by
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician.
He had Strawb ...
when he visited in 1763.
By 1781, the Montagus had run out of male heirs and the entire estate was sold to
Sir Robert Gunning
Sir Robert Gunning, 1st Baronet (8 June 1731 – 22 September 1816) was a British diplomat. He served as the British minister in Denmark 1765–1771, in Prussia in 1771 and in Russia 1772–1776. Gunning was appointed a Knight Companion of the Ord ...
. Horton House was described in 1791 as a spacious mansion of great beauty set in an extensive park with a pavilion at both ends of the park with follies, a menagerie, temples, serpentine lakes as well as out-buildings. By the time that
James Storer presented his engraving of the house in 1812, the house looked much as it did in 1935 but with the domes missing, presumed demolished. Four generations of the Gunning family lived at Horton Hall until 1888 when it was sold for its investment potential to
Pickering Phipps II, a Northampton brewer. Phipps leased the house as a boarding school until 1899, when the lease expired. Horton Hall had been neglected but was purchased the same year by George Winterbottom, a wealthy industrialist, together with the greater estate including land and properties in the villages and parishes of Horton,
Hackleton
Hackleton is a village located in West Northamptonshire, just north of Buckinghamshire. It is south of Northampton town centre, and by road to the M1 London to Yorkshire motorway junction 15 and north of junction 14. London is south via jun ...
,
Piddington,
Quinton,
Preston Deanery
Preston Deanery is a hamlet in the civil parish of Hackleton in West Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire, England. It is south of Northampton town centre and by road to the M1 motorway, M1 London to Yorkshire motorway junction 15. It lie ...
,
Stoke Goldington
Stoke Goldington is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about four miles NNW of Newport Pagnell, on the road to Northampton.
History
The village name 'S ...
,
Ravenstone,
Roade
Roade is a village in Northamptonshire, England. Currently in West Northamptonshire, before local government changes in 2021 it was represented by South Northamptonshire District Council, falling within the two-member Blisworth and Roade ward. ...
and
Hanslope
Hanslope is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about west northwest of Newport Pagnell, about north of Stony Stratford and north of Central Milt ...
. Winterbottom set about extending the house, adding a new front and entrance hall to the north side, squaring the building off and completely refurbishing the interior, commissioning a series of large murals on canvas by
Sir Frank Brangwyn. Winterbottom breathed new life in to the estate by building a new
village hall
A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as:
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...
at Hackleton and donating a cricket ground and pavilion for the newly formed Horton House Cricket Club, which thrive today.
"Gone but not Forgotten"
![The_Horton_Menagerie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/The_Horton_Menagerie.jpg)
Winterbottom died in 1934, leaving his considerable fortune and estate to be divided amongst his widow and six children. Horton Hall had been refurbished, modernised, augmented with pleasure gardens and a swimming pool, and was just too large for private buyers in the midst of
The Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...
. The House and gardens were sold to a developer and were demolished in 1936 to make way for new housing. Of the original 18th and 19th century buildings associated with the main house, four are grade II listed and remain in use today. These include dual lodges, The Menagerie, fully restored by
Gervase Jackson-Stops
Gervase Frank Ashworth Jackson-Stops (26 April 1947 – 2 July 1995, in London) was an architectural historian and journalist.
Education
He was educated at Harrow and later won an exhibition to Christ Church, Oxford and here he was amused th ...
,
The New Temple, "as fine as any at
Stowe
Stowe may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Stowe, Buckinghamshire, a civil parish and former village
**Stowe House
**Stowe School
* Stowe, Cornwall, in Kilkhampton parish
* Stowe, Herefordshire, in the List of places in Herefordshire
* Stowe, Linc ...
or
Stourhead", which was converted so that the portico forms the centre of a substantial property and was renamed Temple House, and finally the brick stable block and coach house, which was restored, converted and renamed Captain's Court. The beautiful interiors, fireplaces, marbles, panelled rooms, main staircase, "stone and door knob" were all auctioned, with some of the murals now held by the
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as t ...
, and the
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...
both in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
Horton Hall was an historic building whose owners, as certified Lords of the Manor, had a duty of care to a large community of villages and tenants that was neither sustainable nor appropriate as a social model in the 20th century. Those same owners were often historic world figures, six of whom were appointed
High Sheriffs to a grateful County, from Roger Salisbury in 1467 to George Winterbottom in 1906. What remains of the original house are valuable fragments of the social history of England, some scattered across the globe.
References
Further reading
*Cornforth, John, 1970 ''Horton House, Northamptonshire'' in H.Colvin and J. Harris (eds), The Country Seat, publisher Allen Lane, Penguin Press
*Williams, Maureen, 2019 ''Horton Hall - Gone but not Forgotten''(An illustrated history of one of Northamptonshire's lost country houses), published in Association with Hackleton Village Hall
External links
Horton House Cricket Club
[{{cite web , last1=Das , first1=Paul , title=A HISTORY OF HORTON HOUSE - THE BOOK , url=https://www.hortonhouse.co.uk/news/a-history-of-horton-house--the-book--2463498.html , website=Horton House Cricket Club , publisher=Horton House Cricket Club , access-date=6 October 2020]
Country houses in Northamptonshire
Houses completed in 1740
Demolished buildings and structures in England
Palladian architecture
Renaissance architecture in England
1320 establishments in England
Buildings and structures demolished in the 20th century
Hackleton