The Country House Revealed
These country house have seen 500 years of British history, upclose and personal! Visiting them offer a guide tour of our nation's history! It's a great honor to be granted the privilege to go through the portals of these ancient houses which are normally hidden from the public eyes!!!
South Wraxhall Manor
Built in 1500s, it belonged to the Long family for centuries and witnessed the family's rise and fall!
So many stories about this house.
Robert Long established himself and his family during the Tudor reign under the Henry VIII!
He served as the chamber boy in HenryVIII's court!!! It's the very post that requires absolute trust because one could do anything harmful to a King when he was undressed!!!
While Robert was also a money-drainer! To show off his wealth and social status, he ordered a door for Long members only just beside the main entrance to the local church!!!
In the 17th century, there were the controversies between the Long' and the Danver's!!!
The rival went completely out of hand!
The servants from the two families committed fights and murders!!!
The Long brother's sent a letter to the Danver's in which they called the Danver's the "puppy fool"!!!
Humiliated, the Danver's boys decided to revenge: one day, they took the sort of pistol equivalent thing and killed the Henry Long!!!
Then the Danver's boys fled and the rampant search and chase followed and it's the sensational newspaper headline at that time!!!
Some scholars believe that this event inspired Shakespeare who conjures the servants riot scene at the beginning of "Romero and Juliet"!!!
They claim
A) the time was right: it's the late 1594. Shakespeare just established himself in 1592 and then the plague broke out and the theatre was closed. In 1594, Shakespeare went very close with Earl South Hampton and sooner a new theatre open!!!
B) Though those scenes were usually set aboard, they were English, they had English names!!!
It's no mere coincidence!!!
The next holder of the House is Walter Long, who added a fire place and exquisite volt ceiling to this already fascinating house!!!
The decoration of the fire place is more moral rather than Christy--the carved God's of Justice, Geology,etc. which shows Walter is a civilized and lofty fellow!!!
It was this period of time that the social pitch of the Long family reached the highest!!!
Well, as every ancient house boasts itself, South Wraxhall was and maybe is spooked by ghosts!!!
It's said that the first tobacco was smoked here in this house by Sir Walter and his buddy!!! And you can smell the tobacco when you enter the certain room!!!
Another story goes like this:
Catherine, the second wife of Walter and a wicked stepmother, always wanted to sabotage the son of the first wife so that Walter could disinheriate him. She once made him drunk and humiliated him in front of his father. She named her son the same name Walter! She ordered a clerk to rewrite the Will. But when the clerk was doing the "assignment", he saw a white pale hand emerging between him and the paper of Will!!! He thought it was the late Lady Long and he just stopped what he was doing!!!
Such sabotage was stopped by a compromise: each son got a certain estates!!!
Till the 18th century, the hauntings, curses remained trapping in time!!!
But the Long empire went declined!!!
In 1966, the House and the land attached was sold by the last Long family member who had lived there!!! The moment she left the house, she felt like she was spitting on her old ancestors!!!
During the next 40 years or so, the House was changed in three hands.
Till 2004, am American fashion designer who admires the embodiment of English country living, the silver servings, the amazing relics of English history, took it!
Over the 600 years, The South Wraxhall embodies the magical quality and labyrinth charm!!!
Kinross House
Among the numerous castles on the land of Scotland, the Kinross House is the first classical architecture in Scotland. 300 years old as her age, this late 17th century mansion is the epitome and let the castles a suit of medieval armor on this romantic landscape!
The entrance hall is so authentic that you might think William Bruce, the designer and the builder of this house, is lurking somewhere in the shadow!!!
Completed in 1685, this House ushered Scotland building in the rational Morden world! In that Scotland's golden age, it represents the Scottish national style!
The builder, William Bruce, is a merchant dealing and trading wines, timber and other things. He knew that he had to make his own way in the world for the tradition grants the old brother in terms of inheritance!
There is a portrait of Bruce painted three years prior to the constraction of the house(in 1664) in which he is holding a drawing tool in his hand posing as a young man with a dream which is set to be come ture!!!
The house is a miniature of royal palace!
There is the "Route" in this house which penetrates to the most intimate rooms--the higher their status the more excluded rooms the guests could get in:
The choosing few would be invited into a drawing room;
Then, a door leading to the waiting room;
Then, the bed chamber--a sign of great intimacy;
Then, a holy of holies-- a very small room which is dedicatedly decorated!
What a way to reveal the social status of the guests!!!
Another feature of this house is the seperation of the masters from the servants! The servants were kept away from the family! They could only lived in the basement! The privacy is highly concerned! The conduct was done with great discretion!
There is a narrow and small staircase for servants carrying human wastes!
It's a parallel world where servants and nasty things were kept from the sight of the masters!!!
The most impressive point of this house is it's position and regularity of the stonework which embodies the wonderful Roman quality!!!
The little thing that this house lacks is fortification!
Just mils away from Kinross, there stands the Glamis Castle which has a starring role in Shakespeare's MacBeth!
The castle belongs to Earl Patrick. There is a picture of him wearing skin-coloured and skintight Roman armor sitting on the grassland with the hand pointing towards the castle he built!!!
The castle is the total flipside of the Kinross! It's a cool, clean form!!!
In the hand of Earl Patrick's 18th successor, the castle is in well condition!
This castle is the very one that confined the ill-fated Queen Mary of Scotland!!!
She spent 11 months there before she was forced to abduct her throne in favour of her baby son Janmes who, later, became the James I of Scotland and James II of England!!!
The second part of this house is about the downfall of Sir Bruce and the tragedy of this house!!!
During the action to secure his dream (of building this house), Bruce had to went down to London to woo the new King James II. From the letters from his wife(Mary Bruce)'s side--"I wish you could continue to being in favour of the King!", Bruce did well at that time! And actually, he was introduced into the bed chamber and selected as a member in the governing body for Scotland in November 1685.
In that background, money was no object. Bruce built the house in the most expensive and finest way! He bought everything the best for the house-- stones from the Holyrood House; trees and flowers from all over the Europe!!! The expenditureis massive as almost 20,000 Pounds worth today!
However, his dream might be a dashed one!!! He could never able to finish it!!!
The ceiling of a certain room was left to uncarved; the staircase of the dining room was added by someone else; the route he built got his vanity had no monarch visit!!! It's such a undecorated shell!!! His dream was reviling!!!
From the letters buried in the basement, we can know that their purse had grown light! Mary had no decent dress to put on to see him at Edinburgh!!! They were striving for cash!!!
In May 1686, just 12 months after his expansion of the house, the consequence of such a man of opportunistic and no principle, under the background of political changes with every wing, was put to court!!!
Though he tended to win those glory back, it's just the beginning of his downfall!!!
1688, the Glorious Revolution brought up the new King William who actively hostile towards Bruce who was a Steward supporter! This was about to put him into ruin!!!
There is a WANT issued in 1696 to incriminate him of high treason which might end him up by hanging, draining or quartering!!!
Bruce, the one who once down castles, was put in the prison of the biggest castle of them all in Scotland!!! His country was broken! He would never conceived that, in his 70s, he would have such a bitter end in dark, dim dungeon!!!
The tragedy is not ended at that!
He has no burial volt!!!
Maybe his house and garden is his memorial!!!
After his death, his family lived at Kinross for 60 years. Then it's sold to Montegomery family who made fortunes in trade in late 18th century!
Queen Mary was once there having meal with Montegomary's!!!
But the house is again being for sale!!! Because it's a financial drain for the current Montegomary family who have to pay about 15m per month for maintaining it!!!
Expecting for the new owner, the Kinross House is waiting for the next chapter of is glorious life!!!
Easton Neston
Easton Neston, located in Northamshire, witnesses the family's debts, jewels, and their estranges, the fortunes lost and won!!!
It is a wonderful design combined power and presence!
It is not only the architecture reflects the beauty, but also reveals the secrets of who and when it's built!!!
It is 18th testament of stone witnessing three generations of wealth and power!!!
The key to keep this house running is through mortgage and marriage!
For 10 generations, none of this family members dirt their hands in business! Till the late 1970s, had one member got in the motor trade!
In 2005, this House has become 18th headquarter of a global fashion design run by a Russian born fashion designer!
This house represents the typical English Baroque style which, though short-lived, is playful, willful, and inventive!!! It has some muscling in its style yet sumptuous!!!
According to the original design, there was no wall in the hall! Instead, it were two pillars! Because, originally, the hall was doubled its height--two stories high! The ceiling was inserted in late 19th century!
The staircase!!! The architectural high point, the most admirable one, the focus of this house!!! It embodies 18th space, light, drama!!! The weight of each case transfers to another one by one. A visionly architectural marvel looks like it floats itself!!!
Upstairs to the second floor, there presents another trick:
Two giant windows at each end of the second flight boast the quality of space!!! The light and shades! The windows offer sensational view out as far as you can see and function as a connection to the large world!!!
The start of Easton Neston is a large Tudor house 150 yards South from the main mansion. There was a village been removed in 1499. Only a perish church remained as the tomb of the family which, expanding from 1530s to the year2005, established themselves began in the ups and downs on the ranks in the Tudor era-- merchants, lawyers, and politicians!
In 1641, William Firmer became Sir William!!! But the time was not unfortunate! Just one year later, Britain got into civil war!
It's the second William Firmer who was a MP himself started the constraction of the house!
He got the money from marriage! In 1671, he got 7000 pounds as the wedding gift from his first wife; years later, his second marriage brought him 9000 pounds fortune!!!
So there should be a grand new house to match the rising family fortunes!!! And it's the time to spend it!!!
The puzzle of this house comes: who was the designer???!!!
Christopher Rahman, one of the British super star architecter, the wonder of his age, was a Professor in astronomy at AllSoul school Oxford!!! The sundial there is his work!!!
There is a more modest drawing of a house with 9 windows wide kept in the Oxford library, definitely, from him!!!
Another candidate is Nicole Hawkmall, Rahman's prodigy, Clark, puple, and then colaberater!
According to tree ring data from the experts, there are two secrets of building this house:
First, discovered from the restoration from the destoried one by a fire in 2002, the timber on the roof of the South wing was chopped once. According the expert, it's because the designer thought there were enough rooms for this part! From outside, you can see it's not symmetric portion between three roof windows!!!
Second, the stone base to support the signature staircase above in the hall was strengthened by adding more stones to it!!!
Back to the family.
1687, his second wife died! Five years later, he married again with money!!! And it seemed he hit the jackpot! He married into a prestige lineage (someone related to 18th royal family) which had become the centre of his social network!!!
"Power, patronage, political privilege" marks the golden age of aristocrats in Britain then!!! And the house one possessed advertised the owner's taste!!!
In 1691, his buying a marble statue in Rome and Greece style initiated his collection of the finest private art collection including paintings and marble statues!!! The art decorated staircase, makes you feel ascending the staircase is a tour in an at gallery!!!
However, the cracks appeared. The Earl and his wife went broken! They had to relocated themselves in Italy and the house was closed for three years!!!
Their financial picture emerged through those documents kept shows that the black sheep in the family, Geoge Firmer is a gambler, murderer! He once lost the amount of money nearly equaled to what a labourer earned a year!!!
But those aristocrats were no fools! They knew the land had to stay in the family!!!
In 1753, almost everything in the house was for sale! Even the kitch sink! They were desperate for the last penny!
1754, the second Earl looked around the almost empty house, but he felt no shame!!!
He found a way out--married Anne, a richly loaded treasure ship!!!
There is no portrait of the second Earl but a carved stone monument/alter in the family church tells the story! A man scratching his head for worrying the financial problem due to he and his family's spend-theft habit!!!
In the same place you can find the third Earl's tomb too. On which it's inscribed some good words as he is a good son; a kind brother; a landlord; a sincere christian; but no words about he is the good and loving husband!!!
Actually, he was married with a loaded woman who helped him to pay the debts! But it's the unexpected death of his mother-in-law twisted their marriage! The mother's death left no will which means the money want straight to the husband and none for the daughter! He, knowing he got no hand on money, treated her badly. And they finally got seperated. He accused her physical violance; she accused him mantle cruity and adultery!
Well, after 25 years of marriage, the court favoured him which brought the rfamily in black again at the 65 years interval!!!
With the fortunes at hand, he commitioned a grand Gate as the attachment to the house!
The next Lord of the house also married with a rich American woman! So 18th house was kept afloat!
The daily life in the house was almosr like in a time capsule! They kept the upstairs and downstairs mold!
In 1970s, 18th Lord Hasches set up a F1 racing team and enjoyed the early success! In 1975, his team won the cup as the last private team to do so!
His successor found his niche in the ailing luxurious British bike industry as the car was folded!
Whatever, the continuing thing is to keep the no running!
However, in 2005, the contents of the house was under the hammer again! It's the biggest one in British auction history.
Similar to the one in 1753, the house was stripped virtually bare!
Not long after it, the house itself was put for sale! It claimed 50million pounds, but no taker!
So it had to be sold to smaller pieces!
At the 15 plus million pounds price, I was sold to a LA based Russian fashion designer who decorated the house in the typical 18th century style and set his fashion studio in it!!!
Last but not least, it's the time to reveal the mystery proposed at the beginning of the part-- who built this house and when was it built!
According to th timber ring data examed by experts, the timber used in the constraction structure was chopped during the year 1700 to 1710! Obviously, it's Hawkmall who did it!!! (He went back in Britain in 1731 when his architectures were falling in favour as his health on the downward path!) As he once put it:"You can hardly avoid loving your own children!!!"
The owners come and go, but the house lives on!!!
Wentworth Woodhouse
Wentworth Woodhouse, the largest private house in England, is the product of two families feuding and tells the story of a to of 18th England!!!
Standing almost as an angel estate in Yorkshire, the house presents the competition between two families and two polictical parties! So it is not only a house, it forms the modern society!!!
Once the most important and powerful place on earth, an architectural theatre, surrounded by myth, this piece of estate, covering 19,000 acer, was mainly buit during 1724 to 1750!!!
The marble hall, acclaimed as the large one in England in 1730s, embodies the neoclassical feature!It's cubic proportion functions the heart of the house! In 1912, it held a dance ball go king Geoge V. It hosted a lot royal visits as well.
Because of its shear scale, there are 365 rooms, one for each day!!! In the past, some rooms had special functions!
This house also featured in Country Life magazine 1906 edition because of it's splendid structure, antique furniture.
However, the tide raised the family also against them!!! The house was for sale in 1989 by a retired architecter Newbold family who just had owned it for a decade!!!
Now, all the glories are vanished! The splendid room debris are struggling to find it's to in the morden world!!!
All of its stories began with a decision!!!
The Earl of Strachford died in 1695 with no child! Surprisely, he let the third son of his sister inherit what he had!!!
This paved the way for the following feuding between two cousins who both named Thomas(Thomas Windswood and Thomas Walson)!!!
The family feud last for half century expressed dramatically through architecture!
The rivalry began five miles away from where the Wentworth Wood house stands! The Walson was gifted enormous estates. And secretly bought a land nearby.
1723, Walson died. His son updated the estate, and the construction began just within a year after his father's death. He, two time as the Prime minister, turned it into the "Whig" centre of influence!
There are actually two houses.
The slightly smaller one with Baroque style and loaded with awkward decoration was where 18th family actually lived (the living house)!
There are striking contrast between the two houses!
The battles between the two parties--Tories and the Whigs (the former of the conservative party) echoed 18th national struggle!!!
1714, Geoge I who was a Tory was in the ruling. So the buildings were intended to cater to his taste!
During the early 18th century of England, the battle of the national architecture style should be politically correct!
The whole building is a copy from 16th century Italian architect's design!
The hall, and the whole building is proportioned under the golden ratio of 3:2(0.618)!!!
Before his death in 1750, Rockins was elevated as Marquess!!!
The second Marquess who was a gambler, art lover, horse enthusiast let the house reach the peak of its political influence!
As a MP himself, the second Marquess got the investment roughly equivalent to 4 billion pounds in today's money.
During his age, with the executing power and money flooding in, the house was enlarged twice in size!
The interior was also upgraded:
He introduced warm colour; paintings of depiction of five sensors; a fireplace on which the God of Wine was carved and other decorations minute in details in the dining room!
Among them, the famous one is a painting of a horse (the original one is I the National Gallery in London)! He is a horse lover. He also loves gamble I which fortunes he lost and he made!!! So the result of the two hobbies is the stable--the biggest one in England! It's said the Needle tower was built as a bet-- he bet he could go through it by riding horses!
Apart from his flamboyant side, he is a good operator!
His father was loyal to the throne, but he tended to rebel it!!!
1760, Richard III was the King.
Rich and powerful enough to compete the King, he, together with Charles James Fox and William Burge, fought every aspect against the King!!!
They formed the Liberal Party, inserted influence in the American Revolution!
1782, just 14 months in his second term as MP, he died childless!
His nephew, the 4th Earl, got the house!
The 1832 general election, who gave the "Whigs" 18th decisive vote, let the voting gathering machine demilished!
The industrial revolution shifted the power from the aristocrats to the city!
Coal beneath the earth was the new source of the fortune guaranteed the family's status!
Coal was the drive and the lifeline of industrialisation and Great Britain!
During 80s and 90s, the family was like the royalty in York! And the house did recept 8 royal visits, who elevated their social status!
Well, the source of fortune would come back to haunt them!!! The atmosphere for boding of darkness was off to come!!!
Life in Wentworth Wood house transformed forever!!!
1945, the Labor party was elected which was sparking the decline of the family!
The coal mining excludedly Don by the family was accused as the vendorlism though they just got the poor-quality coal at the surface!
In the same month, the machine came in, which destroyed the landscape, the garden!
1947, 1st January, the coal mining was nationalized!
To the outside, the house was ripped in parts; to the inside, the family was I retreat! Such a tragic strike brought the beginning of the end!!!
1948, the 8th Earl died in a plane crush at the age of 37!
With the fortune on the sly, items in and of the house were for sale in1948. The family's gripping on the house was flipping away! The vibrant heart of this community was ended!
The gray marble hall was the gym; the other rooms were functioning as a hospital!
1989, the house itself was for sale!!!
Nowadays, the condition of the house is worrying:
Cracks on the walls in liberty;
Ceiling claps I a little chapel; etc.
18th whole house is threatened by sinking, allegedly, due to the rampant open mining!!!
Anyway, the house is brooding, frozen in time!!!
Clandeboye House
Located deep in the farmland in northern Ireland, Clandeboye was built in 1863.
From the train station, go through a private avenue as passing a portal to a hidden world and taking me to the past more ways than one!!!
For 400 years, the Dufferin family lived here. The current one Lady Lindy who moved in 1964 by marrying the 5th Marques who died 20 years ago!
The original Blackwoods family was Scottish. They were sober and very sensible who thought "Imagine is a mental illness"!!!
Originally it was built in 1801 to 1804 by Robert Woodgate. The original door was moved to the rare of the house. But when you open the plain door, an architecture theatre is presented in front of you by Frederick Dufferin--the greatest diplomat, a fire of Queen Victoria, a typical Victoria aristocrat!!!
An exceptional man in Dufferin family married an Irish play writer's daughter, Helen who was a fashion beauty at that time.
Frederick was born. His mother had his portrait framed and his hair attatched at the back!!!
Helen had high anticipation and ambition for her son. So, Eton, a place for aristocratic elites, was the place to send him to!
When Frederick was in Eton, 1839, there had been 10 PMs produced d it!!! It's the heart of British power network!
He was described as a figure of hunchback. But, soon, he a "Englishlized", and become a good orator!
At that time, Britain was at zenith of its power.
He had nourished the notion that "Behind every great man, there is a great estate!"
The day before he left Eton, he felt wretched! Because his father was died of morphine overdose!!!
Being "Lord" brought him fortune and 18,000 arc of land, on paper! In reality, he was I see debts!!!
The bitter true to landowners e the agriculture no longer paid! At that time, nearly 75% rural population lived only on potato! But in1845, such a kind of fungus plagued the potato! Irish peasantry were starving! People deserted. Ireland changed!
People from England didn't believe it, Geoge Boyle was sent to Ireland to report the situation there in person! What he saw was people were crawling on the ground because they had no energy to walk!
Lord Dufferin donated 1000 pounds I this "Great Hunger"!
But every penny he spent put him deeper I debt. He was used to spending the money he simply didn't have!
Through his mother's connection, Frederick, at age of 23 in 1849, got the position of "the Lord in waiting" which took him to the heart of British Empire!
Seven years elder and just happily married, Queen Victoria was very happy to have a courtier like him!
Frederick was captivating, charming person who determined to please!
At the high end of Lord, he wanted to "keep up as the Jones"!
In 1849, he built a little tower dedicated to his beloved mother! The Helen's Tower! It proclaims the love between son and mother!
On the bronze panel inscribed:"FLAT LUX"--"let there be light!"
1864, as Lord Dufferin go in up in the world, his debts too!!!
He had to get money through mortgage to keep him and his spending float!
There was a Gothic design for the house! But he could not afford it! Another french castle style was not neither!
Well, maybe it's a blessing in disguise to him! The rooms he added at rare of the house inspired his craze for artecraft collection!!!
The focus of his spiritual journey is the statue of Egypt God Amon upstairs (which was sold in 1937)!
1872, Frederick earned 300,000 pounds a year, equivalent to 20 million pounds I today's money, but he was still I debt!!!
He had to sell lands and turn to those newlyrich for fund! He found one among the industrialists in Belfast as his banker--Lord Dunleath!!!
In the mid 19th century, Belfast was the industrial centre for entrepreneurs--Ship yards, rope works, cotton mills!
Yet, the Lord still had to sell 2/3 of his land (12,000 arc)!!! And worse, he even thought about selling the house itself!!!
Later that year, the salvation came!
Frederick was appointed as the 3ed governor in general in Canada! And the money flooded in as the result!
During 1873 to 1878, he won friends through generosity: balls, theatre, parties, dinners! According to records, he hosted more than 30,000 people in that period!
He was so commemorated by canadian that his head is on 2 dollar's bill and his wife's is on 1 dollar's bill!!!
Through his diplomatic skills, he mediated among English, Irish, American, and Canadian. He was renowned as and has the reputation of "a man of wisdom of Solomon"!!!
One thing he never stop doing was sending back trophies from far far land--Russia, Turkey, etc!
Queen Victoria had a Thank you letter for him for those exotic stuff.
In 1884, 58 at his age, he got the money imperial position--the General governor to India!
India at that time was the largest market for manufacture goods like cotton of Britain!
He sent back a collection of "weapons of destruction"--daggers, knives which are displayed in the hall!
He also took a lot of snapshots of life in the hayday there.
To get the short trade route into China, Britian launched the Burma war in 1824 and 1825. And then the British India Empire was set!
There are some photos of Burma King and his wife and other local people! Burma was a matriarch society!
In his four years in charge, Frederick fulfilled his 40-year dream--to build a house from his own design!!!
At the foothill of Himalaya, a governor's house was built based on his design I 1886.
It's a Gothic monster! Inside, it has grand hall, starecase, two-tire gallery, all in wooden meterial!!!
But he only enjoyed it for four months before the post was up!
He then backed to Clandeboye with a new collection of trophies!
In 1897, he got the chairman of London Global Financial Group which failed later.
Under the strike of both financially Bruce and the death of his eldest son killed in a ball war, Lord Dufferin got I'll and died in 1902!!!
The house remains what looked like when he left it!!!
Lundy has no child to pass to! So she tends to let the house be a centre for learning national history!!!
Marshcourt Villa
Embodying the 500 years of country house tradition, the last Ra for life in English country house, the Marshcourt Villa is the glimming apparition of white!!!
Designed by Edwin, it is the epitome of Edward England style, a masterpiece of the early 20th century!
The construction was finished in 1904. The first and foremost purpose for this design was for fun!
The Tudor decoration on columns carves, the Mediterranean flavour from the colour white, and the Indian fish pond! What a flambouance of the owner's nature!!!
The inscription on the door proclaims everyone the happiness for whom enters!
Traditionally, country houses are also the business sucking money from rending and farming.
But the money for running Marshcourt was from stockmarket!
Herbert Jonhson, who was not born with silver spoon in his mouth, was self made, determind, and risktaking!
1873, at the age of 17, he made fortune in London stock exchange!
That was the period of time when city operated in a model code and that code was money!
Johnnie, as people usually called him, had a secret weapon I his sleeve which made him rich super quick. When he was 21, everything was on the roll, and money piled up!
In 1900, he had earned 29 million pounds in today's money!!!
His escape from trading was fishing.
In his 40s, he thought he need a brand-new house as the status symbol!
Through 《Country Life》, he knew the romantic design and its designer Lutyens!
Lutyens was in love with an Indian immigrant girl Emily. He designed this house just to prove himself.
Well, as the two men just clicked. Lutyens built the house, instead for his lover, for Jonnie!
There is a piece of chalk land!!! And the house was built from chalk bricks!!! It's a miracle the house is still standing!!!
The house was the talk of the town, an arena for social climbing, a magnet for Lords, Ladies, and royalties!
Together with the garden designer, they created this theatrical architecture!
The intrigue maze design--twist and turning through walls and hedges, the marble terrace, the sunken courtyard, let everyone who pass the visitor's entrance feel they are on a magical journey into the unknown!!!
Inside, the dinning room is like a grand cabin of a ship. Very nautical style.
A very playful spirit of Edward Age!
Such a feast of eye! It's like a tailor made new from old stuff. And the old and the new are happy best friends!
Johnnie and Lutyens were two chaps of like minds. They were "Peter Pan",the lost boys.
Men with levish hospitality, and men of manner!
1912, December, at age of 56, the confirmed bachelor got married! The newly wife Violet, whose first husband was killed in war, was a society lady, a no of two daughters!
It's a dream catch. Both of them were sporting, exuberant!
Only 18 months after their marriage, the party haunted!
It's the war. During the war time, many country houses turned into hospitals, places for refugees.
Johnnie had the big house and the big heart. So did Violet. They paid contribution to war effort by turn their house in troop hospital.
Violet thought the rehabilitation and recovery project required actions like so and games!
The war shattered 900,000 British people, and cost 9 billion pound!
The economy a down! Investment market tumbled!
Dark days in Marshcourt.
Worse just came to Jonnie!
October,1921, his wife died suddenly claimed by a deadly disease swiped 1920s. Condolences flooded in including those from the King and the Queen and princes!
A twist to the sorrytale:
Just two years earlier, he gave the piece of land to the local village as cemetery. It had turned out that his wife was the first one to be by here.
The marriage and war changed him. He became a philanthropist!
A motto-"Come on" on a badge captured him energetic personality.
In 1920s, the big game hunting and going on safari in Africa was the privilege d aristocrats!!!
They were granted license to kill animals in Africa!!! Elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards, hippos,etc. No one a spared!!!!!!
Back in Marshcourt, a ball was built as the huge extension to the house.
Those were the spend spend and spend years!
To get sense of those sunkiss years, there was every servent behind every chair at dinning table. According to a person who attended a dinner service at the house, Jonnie had a very strong presence!
They were really high on life. They spent money like there is no tomorrow!
And whatever he made he put it back.
Well, October 1929, the wallstreet collapse she economy worldwide. Stocks plumped! His world just sip out in mimutes!
And he never really recovered!
August 1931, one sorrow evening, Jonnie had dinner in the ball room, without lights to save electricity!!!
The cost of maintaining the house was impossible to bear!
He tried borrowing money to invest aboard. The Greek bonds. But his lucky touch was gone. His scheme backfired! He a bankrupt!!!
The house was shut down and sold!!!
But in the worst financial sly I the century, no one bought country house.
Servents were all gone. He had to move out!
On April 2ed, 1949, old and nearly blind and deaf, Jonnie died!
"His charm is not what he did but what he was!!!"
Due to humongous cost in the war, the government demolishing country houses to pay for the war.
The Marshcourt just sure at the last mimute of the bid!
1946, it was turned into a boys' school which last for 40 years.
Boys were introduced into and running around in this playboy mansion. It's a boys' never never land!!!
Marshcourt I the important part in English country house history. An evocative embodiment of Edward Age style!
Building country house was ended in WWI. Somehow, Marshcourt is one of the final master peice of a dying breed!!!
All those country house full of stories and history touch every one who crosses the threshhold!!!
This series of BBC documentary was presented by Dan Cruickshank, a very lovely old gentleman!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment