Prestwold Hall
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Prestwold Hall 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 town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
in
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
, England, standing in of land in the parish of
Prestwold Prestwold is a hamlet and civil parish in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England. The parish has a population of around 60. The population at the 2011 census remained less than 100 and is included in the civil parish of Hoton. N ...
. It is both a private home and a venue for weddings and events.


History

Prestwold Hall was, for many years, the seat of the Packe family. Before that time, it was the home of the
Skipwith Skipwith is a village and civil parish about north-east of Selby and south-east of York in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England. Until the 1974 local government reorganisation Skipwith was part of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Ma ...
family. After the death of Major Robert Christopher Packe (born c.1783) - one time Aide-de-camp to King
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
- who was killed during the
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
, the hall passed to his nephew
George Hussey Packe George Hussey Packe (1 May 1796 – 2 July 1874) was a United Kingdom Member of Parliament, an army officer present at the Battle of Waterloo, and was instrumental in establishing the Great Northern Railway. Personal life George Hussey Packe w ...
who held the hall and estate until his death in 1874.White, Philip
"Heroes of Waterloo"
Retrieved 30 December 2013
''
Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in England that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses o ...
of Lincolnshire'' 1855, p.57


The Packe Family

Prestwold Hall has been the seat of the Packe family for over 360 years since it was acquired by Sir Christopher Packe (1595 – 1682) in 1649, shortly after the death of
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 ...
. He was nominated by
Oliver Cromwell 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 ...
to be one of the sixty who were to create a
Upper House An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...
, and he introduced the
Humble Petition and Advice The Humble Petition and Advice was the second and last codified constitution of England after the Instrument of Government. On 23 February 1657, during a sitting of the Second Protectorate Parliament, Sir Christopher Packe (politician), Christop ...
to Parliament, being an offer of hereditary monarchy to Cromwell. This was the apex of his rise to fame and fortune. The
Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
came, however, and it was remembered that Christopher, ‘Lord Packe,’ late
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
, had been one of the
aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...
who proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy in May 1649.
Regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
s had been among his intimate friends. In August 1660, Packe was disqualified from holding any public office, and retired to Prestwold, where he lived to the age of 87. In the 1760s, Charles James Packe (1726 – 1816) rebuilt the Hall, and soon after created the park around it. Standing on the northern part of the East Lawn runs a line of cedars, already in 1780 said to be of notable size. Five years after
Charles William Packe Charles William Packe (23 September 1792 – 27 October 1867) was a Great Britain, British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. Family Packe was the oldest son of Charles James Packe and Penelope Dugdale, daughter of Richard ...
(1792 – 1867) inherited Prestwold in 1837, the house was largely remodelled by the defining Scottish architect
William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...
. One of his earliest English commissions, it is one of the finest examples of a William Burn house in the neoclassical style. The interior of the house is noted for its exceptional marbled plaster work in the Italian style, remarkable for both the scale and the quality of the work. Within the house, there is a notable collection of twentieth century portraiture and of eighteenth century English and European furniture. Prestwold Hall passed to the Drury-Lowe family in 1936 when Penelope Mary, the daughter of Sir Edward Hussey Packe, married John Drury Boteler Drury-Lowe (1905-1960). Drury-Lowe adopted the additional surname of Packe – his son, Simon Jasper Packe-Drury-Lowe (1938-2015) inherited the house and estate either at the death of his father in 1960, or at the death of his mother in 1981. Prestwold Hall remains to this day the home of the Packe-Drury-Lowe family.


The Hall

The Hall was remodelled by architect
William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...
in 1842–1844, incorporating the fabric of a mid-18th-century H-plan house. It was
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 ...
in 1951. One of the finest rooms inside the house is the Entrance Hall with its richly coloured marbled plaster work in the Italian style. The painted ceiling was inspired by
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
’s
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
grotesques and incorporates miniature landscapes, showing the house before and after its remodelling between 1842 and 1844. Below the ceiling, wreathing the room, are small medallion busts of the poets from
Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
to Scott, positioned in the spandrels and are likely inspired by Alberti's external arcade at the
Tempio Malatestiano The Tempio Malatestiano ( it, House of Malatesta, Malatesta Temple) is the Unfinished building, unfinished cathedral church of Rimini, Italy. Officially named for Francis of Assisi, St. Francis, it takes the popular name from Sigismondo Pandolfo ...
in
Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...
. An arcade opens on to a vaulted corridor leading to a top lit inner hall: these spaces also marbled. Off the corridor, the
cantilevered A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
stone staircase survives from the eighteenth century house, and was given its bracketed brass
baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
s by William Wilkins (1751-1815) in 1805. The Dining Room, added by Wilkins in 1805, was incorporated into the remodelling undertaken by the Scottish architect William Burn in 1842. The room is overlooked by two dramatic full length portraits of Sir Edward Hussey Packe, KBE (1878 – 1946) and the Hon. Lady Mary Sydney Packe (née Colebrooke, 1890 – 1973) by the painter
Glyn Philpot Glyn Warren Philpot (5 October 188416 December 1937) was a British painter and sculptor, best known for his portraits of contemporary figures such as Siegfried Sassoon and Vladimir Rosing. Early life Philpot was born in Clapham, London, but ...
RA (1844 – 1947). The portrait of Lady Packe, painted in 1911, was described by the art historian Robin Gibson OBE as an ‘amazing feat of virtuosity’. Its elongated elegance and introspective characterisation is totally without the fashion-plate vulgarity of much
Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
portraiture. Other portraits hang in this room of the Packe family including a painting of Sir Christopher Packe (1595 – 1682) who purchased the house in the 17th century painted by
Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen Cornelius Johnson or Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (; also Cornelius Jonson van Ceulen, Cornelis Jansz. van Ceulen and many other variants) (bapt. 14 October 1593 – bur. 5 August 1661) was an English painter of portraits of Netherlands, Dutch ...
(1593 –1661). The library extends nearly the entire length of the house when the large doors that separate it from the drawing room are opened, connecting the two rooms. With clever use of constructional steel, William Burn was able to create these long adjoining rooms. The windows rise from floor level and open onto the garden which enhances the notion that Prestwold was designed in the style of an Italian classical villa. The doors and bookcases in library were made for
George Hussey Packe George Hussey Packe (1 May 1796 – 2 July 1874) was a United Kingdom Member of Parliament, an army officer present at the Battle of Waterloo, and was instrumental in establishing the Great Northern Railway. Personal life George Hussey Packe w ...
(1846–1908) by Gillows of Lancaster and London in 1875. A conservatory fills the recessed central bay at the front of the house, and projects out towards the garden. Behind the glass and elegant Doric pilasters, are well planted raised beds with a number of exotic plants and flowers. Before Burn's reworking of the gardens in 1842 the house was set on an informal lawn with shrubberies and trees to north, east and west, and with the main entrance to the south. This arrangement was probably established when Charles James Packe (1726 – 1816) had the park laid out c 1770. The author and antiquary, John Nichols, commended Charles James Packe's ‘extensive planting’ which, ‘bosomed
he house He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
in calm serenity’. During the restyling of the house Burn added the
porte cochère Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...
and entrance to the west and created the garden that now lies to the south, with its well planted beds reflecting the classical symmetry of the house. The garden runs to a stone-balustraded parapet with views south onto the park. The parapet continues east to define the boundaries of the East Lawn, which extends for 100 yards east of the house with a grass terrace and a line of cedars, already in 1780 said to be of 'notable' size. From the house are views south, across the gently rising parkland. In the 1760s Charles James Packe, rebuilt the Hall and soon after created the park around it. As John Nichols writes in ''The History and Antiquities of the County of
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
'', Volume III, Part I, published in 1800:
''‘The grounds before
he house He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
are spacious, and possess much of a park-like appearance; and the house, in every point of view shews itself delightfully shaded with wood, being ornamented with large plantations of forest-trees; Mr Packe having, perhaps, planted and raised within the last thirty years, more trees than any gentleman in this county.’''
Near the house stands the
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 ...
church of St Andrew, a medieval parish church largely rebuilt in 1890 by the architect Sir A Blomfield. It is all that remains of the medieval village of
Prestwold Prestwold is a hamlet and civil parish in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England. The parish has a population of around 60. The population at the 2011 census remained less than 100 and is included in the civil parish of Hoton. N ...
, which was demolished during the enclosure of the estate.


The Estate

The Prestwold Estate extends over 1000 hectares of farmland and includes
Wymeswold Wymeswold () is a village and civil parish in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England. It is in the north of Leicestershire, and north-east of Loughborough. The village has a population of about 1,000, measured ...
Airfield. Wymeswold Airfield has one of the longest runways in the county, second to the East Midlands International Airport. The airfield was used during
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
for training bomber pilots.
Wellington bomber The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...
s, which were operated from the airfield, are very large planes without a great deal of propulsion, hence the requirement for 2000 yards of tarmac. Today, the airfield's primary use is for motor sports, on the purpose-built motor circuit that snakes around the airfield. A number of events are held on the Estate through the year, ranging from festivals to Cross Country Championships.


Renewable Energy

Much in the tradition of the Victorian stately home, modern technology still plays a part in the running of the house today. Electricity for the house is provided by two rows, 100 yards long, of
photovoltaic panels Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
in the walled garden producing 50 kW of power. The heating for the house is supplied by a biomass boiler situated near the panels which provides hot water with a series of flow and return pipes to the house. This means the house is lit and heated efficiently and predominantly from
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
sources. The photovoltaic cells positioned on of land at Wymeswold Airfield form one of the largest solar farms in Europe and upon its completion Wymsewold Solar Farm was the largest in the United Kingdom. The panels were connected to the National Grid in 2013 and the 130,000 panels produce enough energy to power approximately 7,500 homes. The cells are expected to produce emission-free energy for the next 25 years.


References

{{reflist Grade I listed buildings in Leicestershire