Hagley Hall

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Hagley Hall in June 2011

Hagley Hall is a country house in the village of Hagley in the English county Worcestershire . Listed by English Heritage as a Grade I Historic Building, the 18th century Hausa is the home of the Lyttelton family . George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton (1709–1773), the secretary of Friedrich Ludwig von Hannover , poet, letter writer and, for a short time, Chancellor of the Exchequer , had it built. Before the death of his father, Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Baronet , in 1751, he began to have the site designed as a landscape garden in the new Picturesque style and from 1754 to 1760 he had the house built in the Palladian style, which is still preserved today .

After a fire in 1925, the house was rebuilt with the exception of the top floor - the servants' apartments. As a result, today's roof line between the towers is lower than it was originally designed.

The property fell into ever increasing debt in the early 1970s. John Lyttelton, 11th Viscount Cobham , was forced to sell large parts of the property in order to maintain the house (and also bear the financial consequences of his divorce). His brother and successor, Christopher Charles Lyttelton, 12th Viscount Cobham , started restoration work on the main house and park. The park is open to the public and part of the house can be rented as an event location.

The 12th Viscount Cobham and his wife Tessa have been living in the country house since 2012.

House

Hagley Hall in the 1820s. Front facade (orientation: southwest).

Before the construction of the current Palladian house at the behest of Lord Lyttelton, the earlier house was described on the site as "comfortable and built mainly of wood".

Palladian house fashion began in London between 1715 and 1720. It spread to many counties and did not reach Worcestershire until the 1750s. The two finest examples of this Worcestershire style were Croome Court , built between 1751 and 1752, and Hagley Hall, built by Sanderson Miller (with the help of London architect John Sanderson ) 1754-1760. Typical Palladian elements at Hagley Hall are e.g. For example, the simple exterior and the corner towers with the pyramidal roofs (a design element that Inigo Jones first used in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire ), and the Venetian windows . In the house there is a fine example of Rococo stucco work by Francesco Vasalli , a unique collection of Chippendale furniture from the 18th century and family portraits, e.g. B. Works by Anthonis van Dyck , Joshua Reynolds , Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen and Peter Lely . A catalog of the collections was published in 1900.

St John the Baptist Church, Hagley

On Christmas Eve 1925, a bad fire destroyed large parts of the library and many paintings. Even though molten lead from the roof ran through the house, everyone who was there made it outside. At the height of the fire, when nothing could be saved from inside the house, the 9th Viscount could be heard muttering: “The work of my life has been destroyed!” He and his wife had the house painstakingly restored, with the exception of the Servant quarters on the top floor.

To the north of the country house and only separated from it by a narrow driveway are extensive stables. The buildings are arranged around two inner courtyards. They no longer serve their original purpose, but are now an industrial park for small local businesses.

Just a little to the west of the country house, across from the rear, is the parish church of St John the Baptist (Eng. "John the Baptist"). It is surrounded by a churchyard. In the old part of the cemetery is the Lytteltons family grave, where many of the Hagley Hall owners and their relatives are buried. Directly northeast of the parish church is the property of the Hagley Cricket Club with its clubhouse.

park

Hagley Park in the foreground and Hagley Obelisk on Wychbury Hill in the middle distance, viewed from neighboring Clent Hills.
Hagley Park Castle , which Sanderson Miller built for George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton , in the mid-18th century in the style of a small, medieval castle ruin

The country house is located in a 1.4 km² landscaped deer park, in which fallow deer of different colors graze. Wychbury Hill , also part of the property, is open to the public. A park in Hagley had existed since the reign of Edward III. in the 14th century. Today's landscape park was created between around 1739 and 1764 with follies according to plans by John Pitt , Thomas Pitt , James "Athenian" Stuart and Sanderson Miller . Hagley Hall and Croome Court have more follies and similar facilities in their parks than any other property in England.

One of the follies in Hagley Park is the Hagley Obelisk on Wychbury Hill , built for Sir Richard Lyttelton in 1764. It can be seen many miles away. The Temple of Theseus was built from 1759 to about 1762 at a cost of £ 300 and was a gift from Admiral Smith , Lyttelton's half-brother. Other small, classic buildings are e.g. B. Hagley Park Castle , a specially draped, medieval castle ruin, and "The Four Stones", also called " Ossian's Tomb", on the summit of Clent Hill . Horace Walpole , who is known to be difficult to please, wrote after his visit in 1753: "I almost stared at my eyes, climbed my feet, and praised my tongue and vocabulary."

In April 1786 , on his tour of the United Kingdom , John Adams , the future second president of the United States, visited Hagley Hall and other important houses in the area with Thomas Jefferson , who was to become first vice-president and then also president of the United States. After his visit, he wrote in his diary: “ Stowe House , Hagley Hall and Blenheim Palace are superb; Woburn Abbey , Caversham Park and The Leasowes are all wonderful. Wotton House is both grand and elegant, if neglected. ”In his diary, he condemned the funds used to fund the property, but fell in love with Hagley Hall, though he thought such adornments were in the harsher American Landscape would fit.

Gunpowder plot

Fifty years before the Palladian mansion was built, and right after the Gunpowder Plot was discovered, two of the villains, Robert Wintour and Stephen Littleton, escaped south of their Holbeche House prison to seek help from Humphrey Littleton . At that time Muriel Littleton , the widow of John Lyttelton , who had died in prison, lived in Hagley Park. But Humphrey Littleton used the house in the park.

The conspirators were picked up in Hagley Park on January 9, 1606, after Littleton's cook John Fynwood had informed the authorities of their whereabouts. The large amount of food Littleton was consuming had alarmed him and he had then seen Robert and Stephen. Despite Littleton's assurances that he was not giving anyone shelter, another servant, David Bate , searched the house and showed where the two conspirators had escaped from a courtyard into the open country. The two had been on the run for two months and had to be grateful to Littleton for allowing them to evade the law for so long. It should be noted that the house in Hagley Park existed at least 150 years before Hagley Hall was built.

various

Great Western Railways locomotive number 4930 “Hagley Hall”

In 1780, after the death of Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttleton , Hagley Hall was leased to Bernard Dewes , who later lived in Wellesbourne , Warwickshire , until 1793 .

The Great Western Railway built a number of 4-6-0 steam locomotives named after various country houses and mansions. Locomotive no. 4930 was called "Hagley Hall" and is still in service on the nearby Severn Valley Railway .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hagley Hall . Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  2. ^ The Guardians of Hagley Hall . The English Home. August 6, 2013. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theenglishhome.co.uk
  3. ↑ Hagley Hall parkland restoration scheme shortlisted for heritage award . Stourbridge News. August 27, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  4. ^ NN: A History of the County of Worcester . Pp. 130-136. 1913. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  5. ^ Alan Brooks, Nikolaus Pevsner: Page 56 Worcestershire: The buildings of England . Yale University Press. 2007. Accessed April 21, 2016.
  6. ^ A Catalog of the Pictures at Hagley Hall . Chiswick Press, 1900.
  7. ^ English Heritage staff: The Castle About 3/4 Mile East of Hagley Hall . English Heritage. 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  8. ↑ HHFS society: Local History: Follies of Hagley Park . Hagley Historical and Field Society . May 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ Tom Pagett: Follies and other features of Hagley Park . Hagley Historical and Field Society . 1994. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  10. ↑ Hilda Deeley: Hagley Park: Extract from a letter from Horace Walpole (who visited Hagley in 1753) to Mr. Bentley . Hagley Historical and Field Society . May 1975. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  11. ^ A b John Adams, Charles Francis Adams: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: Autobiography, continued. Diary. Essays and controversial papers of the Revolution . Little, Brown ,. 1851. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  12. ^ A b Douglas Burbury: Robert Wintour . Britannia Internet Magazine . 1998. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  13. ^ Friends of Locomotive 4930 Hagley Hall . Retrieved April 22, 2016.

Web links

Commons : Hagley Hall  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 25 '27.1 "  N , 2 ° 7' 8.8"  W.