Jump to content

Charlecote Park: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 52°12′19″N 1°37′00″W / 52.20520°N 1.61657°W / 52.20520; -1.61657
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Bibliography: Switch as no longer IoE
m →top: clean up
 
(40 intermediate revisions by 18 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox building
{{Infobox building
| name = Charlecote Park
| name = Charlecote Park
| image = CHarlecote Park Front of House Photo.jpg
| image = Charlecote Park 2017 027.jpg
| caption = Charlecote Park
| caption = View toward the front in 2017
| map_type = United Kingdom Warwickshire#United Kingdom
| map_type = United Kingdom Warwickshire#United Kingdom
| map_caption = Location in Warwickshire##Location in United Kingdom
| map_caption = Location in Warwickshire##Location in United Kingdom
| architectural_style =
| architectural_style =
| building_type = Stately home
| building_type = [[English country house|Country house]]
| coordinates = {{coord|52.20520|N|1.61657|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SP263564)|display=inline,title}}<!-- Note: WGS84 lat/long, converted from OSGB36 grid ref -->
| coordinates = {{coord|52.20520|N|1.61657|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SP263564)|display=inline,title}}<!-- Note: WGS84 lat/long, converted from OSGB36 grid ref -->
| location = [[Charlecote]], [[Warwick]]
| location = [[Charlecote]], [[Warwickshire]], England
| completion_date = Built c.16th century
| start_date = Mid 16th century
| owner = in the care of the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]
| owner = [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]
| website = https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/charlecote-park/
| website = {{URL|nationaltrust.org.uk/charlecote-park}}
}}
}}


⚫
'''Charlecote Park''' ({{gbmapping|SP263564}}) is a grand 16th-century [[English country house|country house]], surrounded by its own [[Deer park (England)|deer park]], on the banks of the [[River Avon, Warwickshire|River Avon]] in [[Charlecote]] near [[Wellesbourne]], about {{convert|4|mi|km|0}} east of [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] and {{convert|5.5|mi|km|0}} south of [[Warwick]] in [[Warwickshire]], England. It has been administered by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] since 1946. It is a [[Grade I listed building]]<ref>{{NHLE|num=1381799|desc=Charlecote Park |access-date=24 September 2023}}</ref> and is open to the public. The park and gardens are listed Grade II* in Historic England's [[Register of Parks and Gardens]].<ref>{{NHLE|num=1001187|desc=Charlecote Park |access-date=24 September 2023|fewer-links=y}}</ref>
⚫
[[File:Charlecote Morris edited.jpg|thumb|Charlecote Park circa 1880]]
⚫
[[File:Charlecote Gate House.jpg|thumb|Charlecote Gate House 2006]]
⚫
[[File:CharlecoteJonesViews1829.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A closer view of Charlecote Park dating from the 1820s.]]
⚫
'''Charlecote Park''' ({{gbmapping|SP263564}}) is a grand 16th-century [[English country house|country house]], surrounded by its own deer park, on the banks of the [[River Avon, Warwickshire|River Avon]] in [[Charlecote]] near [[Wellesbourne]], about {{convert|4|mi|km|0}} east of [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] and {{convert|5.5|mi|km|0}} south of [[Warwick]], [[Warwickshire]], England. It has been administered by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] since 1946 and is open to the public. It is a [[Grade I listed building]].


==History==
==History==
The Lucy family owned the land since 1247. Charlecote Park was built in 1558 by Sir [[Thomas Lucy]], and Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] stayed in the room that is now the drawing room. Although the general outline of the Elizabethan house remains, nowadays it is in fact mostly Victorian. Successive generations of the Lucy family had modified Charlecote Park over the centuries, but in 1823, George Hammond Lucy ([[High Sheriff of Warwickshire]] in 1831) inherited the house and set about recreating the house in its original style.
The Lucy family owned the land since 1247. Charlecote Park was originally built in 1558 by Sir [[Thomas Lucy]], and Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] stayed in the room that is now the drawing room. Although the general outline of the Elizabethan house remains, nowadays it is in fact mostly Victorian. Successive generations of the Lucy family had modified Charlecote Park over the centuries, but in 1823, George Hammond Lucy ([[High Sheriff of Warwickshire]] in 1831) inherited the house and set about recreating the house in its original style.


Charlecote Park covers {{convert|185|acre|ha|lk=on}}, backing on to the River Avon. [[William Shakespeare]] has been alleged to have [[poaching|poached]] rabbits and deer in the park as a young man and been brought before magistrates as a result.<ref name="terr">[http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/lostyears.htm Terry A. Gray, ''The Lost Years'', Palomar College.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928004117/http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/lostyears.htm |date=2011-09-28 }}</ref>
Charlecote Park covers {{convert|185|acre|ha|lk=on}}, backing on to the River Avon. [[William Shakespeare]] was said to have [[poaching|poached]] rabbits and deer in the park as a young man, and to have been brought before the magistrates.<ref name="terr">[http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/lostyears.htm Terry A. Gray, ''The Lost Years'', Palomar College.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928004117/http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/timeline/lostyears.htm |date=2011-09-28 }}</ref>


From 1605 to 1640 the house was organised by [[Thomas Lucy (died 1640)|Sir Thomas Lucy]]. He had twelve children with [[Alice Lucy|Lady Alice Lucy]] who ran the house after he died. She was known for her piety and distributing alms to the poor each Christmas. Her eldest three sons inherited the house in turn and it then fell to her grandchild Sir Davenport Lucy.<ref>Richard Cust, ‘Lucy , Alice, Lady Lucy (c.1594–1648)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/66713, accessed 25 November 2015]</ref>
From 1605 to 1640, the house was organised by [[Thomas Lucy (died 1640)|Sir Thomas Lucy]]. He had twelve children with [[Alice Lucy|Lady Lucy]], who ran the house after he died. She was known for her piety and distributing alms to the poor each Christmas. Her eldest three sons inherited the house in turn, then it fell to her grandson Sir Davenport Lucy.<ref>Richard Cust, ‘Lucy, Alice, Lady Lucy (c.1594–1648)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/66713, accessed 25 November 2015]</ref>


In the Tudor great hall, the 1680 painting ''Charlecote Park'' by Sir [[Godfrey Kneller]], is said to be one of the earliest depictions of a black presence in the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]] (excluding Roman legionnaires).<ref name=gruniad/> The painting, of Captain Thomas Lucy, shows a black boy in the background dressed in a blue livery coat and red stockings and wearing a gleaming, metal collar around his neck. The National Trust's Charlecote brochure describes the boy as a "black [[page (occupation)|page]] boy". In 1735 a black child called Philip Lucy was baptised at Charlecote.<ref name=gruniad>[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/mar/21/communities.raceintheuk Beyond the Grave], Alison Benjamin, 21 March 2007, The Guardian, Retrieved 26 November 2015</ref>
In the Tudor great hall, the 1680 painting ''Charlecote Park'' by Sir [[Godfrey Kneller]] is said to be one of the earliest depictions of a black presence in the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]] (excluding Roman legionnaires).<ref name=gruniad/> The painting, of Captain Thomas Lucy, shows a black boy in the background dressed in a blue livery coat and red stockings and wearing a gleaming, metal collar around his neck. The National Trust's Charlecote brochure describes the boy as a "black [[page (occupation)|page]] boy". In 1735, a black child called Philip Lucy was baptised at Charlecote.<ref name=gruniad>[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/mar/21/communities.raceintheuk Beyond the Grave], Alison Benjamin, 21 March 2007, The Guardian, Retrieved 26 November 2015</ref>


⚫
[[File:CharlecoteJonesViews1829.jpg|left|thumb|A closer view of Charlecote Park dating from the 1820s.]]
The lands immediately adjoining the house were further landscaped by [[Capability Brown]] in about 1760. This resulted in Charlecote becoming a hostelry destination for notable tourists to Stratford from the late 17th to mid-18th century, including [[Washington Irving]] (1818), Sir [[Walter Scott]] (1828) and [[Nathaniel Hawthorn]] (c 1850).
The lands immediately adjoining the house were further landscaped by [[Capability Brown]] in about 1760. This resulted in Charlecote becoming a hostelry destination for notable tourists to Stratford from the late-18th to mid-19th century, including [[Washington Irving]] (1818), Sir [[Walter Scott]] (1828) and [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] (c 1850).{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}


[[File:Lucy Deerskin created by Edith Mary Hinchley nee Mason.png|left|thumb|upright|The "Lucy Deerskin" created by Edith Mary Hinchley<ref>{{Cite web|last=Trust|first=National|title=Family tree 533596|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object|access-date=2020-11-22|website=www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>]]
Charlecote was inherited in 1823 by George Hammond Lucy (d 1845), who married Mary Elizabeth Williams of [[Bodelwyddan Castle]], from whose extensive diaries the current "behind the scenes of Victorian Charlecote" are based upon. GH Lucy's second son Henry inherited the estate from his elder brother in 1847. After the deaths of both Mary Elizabeth and Henry in 1890, the house was rented out by Henry's eldest daughter and heiress, Ada Christina (d 1943). She had married Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, (d 1944), a line of the [[Fairfax Baronets]], who on marriage assumed the name Fairfax-Lucy.
Charlecote was inherited in 1823 by George Hammond Lucy (d. 1845), who in December 1822<ref>{{cite book |title=Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002] |author=Alice Fairfax-Lucy.}}</ref> had married Mary Elizabeth Williams of [[Bodelwyddan Castle]], Wales, upon whose extensive diaries the current "behind the scenes of Victorian Charlecote" are based. Seven years of major renovation and rebuilding, including an extension on the river side, were commenced in 1829 after a builder's survey had revealed grave defects in the fabric.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002] |author=Alice Fairfax-Lucy.}}</ref> G.H.Lucy's second son, Henry, inherited the estate in 1847 from his elder brother. In 1848, Mary Elizabeth Lucy had the "wretched old Anglo-Norman church" in the Park pulled down. A new church, built to her design, was completed and opened in February 1853.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002] |author=Alice Fairfax-Lucy.}}</ref>


In 1890, artist [[Edith Mary Hinchley]] worked on a family tree image on deerskin that involved the creation of 500 heraldic shields. She did the work because she was a genealogist and a friend of the family. The "Lucy Deerskin" is still at Charlecote Park. After the deaths of both Mary Elizabeth and Henry in 1890, the house was rented out by Henry's eldest daughter and heiress, Ada Christina (d. 1942). She had married Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, (d. 1944), a line of the [[Fairfax Baronets]], who on marriage assumed the name Fairfax-Lucy.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002] |author=Alice Fairfax-Lucy.}}</ref>
⚫
From this point onwards, the family began selling off parts of the outlying estate to fund their extensive lifestyle, and post-[[World War II]] in 1946, Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy, who had inherited the residual estate from his mother Ada, presented Charlecote to the National Trust in-lieu of death duties. Sir Montgomerie was succeeded in 1965 by his brother, Sir Brian, whose wife, Lady Alice, researched the history of Charlecote, and assisted the National Trust with the restoration of the house.

⚫
[[File:Charlecote Morris edited.jpg|thumb|Charlecote Park circa 1880]]
⚫
From this point onwards, the family began selling off parts of the outlying estate to fund their lifestyle. In 1946, Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy, who had inherited the residual estate from his mother Ada, presented Charlecote to the National Trust ''in lieu'' of death duties. Sir Montgomerie was succeeded in 1965 by his brother, Sir Brian, whose wife Alice researched the history of Charlecote and assisted the National Trust with the restoration of the house.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002] |author=Alice Fairfax-Lucy.}}</ref>
{{Clear}}


==Today==
==Today==
⚫
[[File:Charlecote Park - the lake.jpg|thumb|left|The lake]]
[[File:The brewery at Charlecote Park, Warwick (3820758731).jpg|thumb|The brewery at Charlecote Park]]
[[File:The brewery at Charlecote Park, Warwick (3820758731).jpg|thumb|The brewery at Charlecote Park]]
[[File:Parterre at Charlecote Park.jpg|thumb|Parterre at Charlecote Park, July 2014]]
[[File:Parterre at Charlecote Park.jpg|thumb|[[Parterre]] at Charlecote Park, July 2014]]
The [[Great Hall]] has a barrel-vaulted ceiling made of plaster painted to look like timber and is a fine setting for the splendid collection of family portraits. Other rooms have richly coloured wallpaper, decorated plaster ceilings and wood panelling. There are magnificent pieces of furniture and fine works of art, including a contemporary painting of Queen Elizabeth I. The original two-storey Elizabethan [[gatehouse]] that guards the approach to the house remains unaltered.
The [[Great Hall]] has a barrel-vaulted ceiling made of plaster painted to look like timber and is a fine setting for the splendid collection of family portraits. Other rooms have richly coloured wallpaper, decorated plaster ceilings and wood panelling. There are magnificent pieces of furniture and fine works of art, including a contemporary painting of Queen Elizabeth I. The original two-storey Elizabethan [[gatehouse]] that guards the approach to the house remains unaltered.


On display at the house is an original letter from [[Oliver Cromwell]], dated 1654, summoning then-owner Richard Lucy to the [[Barebone's Parliament|Barebones Parliament]]. Also on display is a 1760 portrait of George Lucy by [[Thomas Gainsborough]] which cost Lucy the sum of eight [[Guinea (British coin)|guineas]].<ref>Malan, A. H., (1899) "Famous Homes of Great Britain and Their Stories"</ref>
On display at the house is an original letter from [[Oliver Cromwell]], dated 1654, summoning then-owner Richard Lucy to the [[Barebone's Parliament|Barebones Parliament]]. Also on display is a 1760 portrait of George Lucy by [[Thomas Gainsborough]], which cost Lucy the sum of eight [[Guinea (British coin)|guineas]].<ref>Malan, A. H., (1899) "Famous Homes of Great Britain and Their Stories"</ref>


A set of archives for the Lucy family at Charlecote is held by the Warwickshire County Record Office<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=187-l6&cid=-1#-1 LUCY OF CHARLECOTE at nationalarchives.gov.uk]</ref> The house also has a display of carriages and a period laundry and brew room.
A set of archives for the Lucy family at Charlecote is held by the Warwickshire County Record Office.<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=187-l6&cid=-1#-1 LUCY OF CHARLECOTE at nationalarchives.gov.uk]</ref> The house also has a display of carriages and a period laundry and brew room.


In April 2012 Charlecote Park featured as the venue for [[BBC1]]'s [[Antiques Roadshow]].
In April 2012, Charlecote Park featured as the venue for [[BBC1]]'s ''[[Antiques Roadshow]]''.


Charlecote Park has extensive grounds. A [[parterre]] has been recreated from the original 1700s plans.
Charlecote Park has extensive grounds. A [[parterre]] has been recreated from the original 1700s plans. The livestock at Charlecote includes fallow deer and Jacob sheep, which were brought to England from Portugal in 1755 by George Lucy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/charlecote-park/features/explore-the-parkland-this-summer|title=Explore the parkland at Charlecote this summer|last=|first=|date=|website=National Trust|access-date=}}</ref>

The livestock at Charlecote includes fallow deer, Devon Red Poll cattle, and Jacob sheep which were brought to England from Portugal in 1755 by George Lucy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/charlecote-park/features/explore-the-parkland-this-summer|title=Explore the parkland at Charlecote this summer|last=|first=|date=|website=National Trust|access-date=}}</ref>


==Notes==
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
* ''Charlecote and the Lucys: The Chronicle of an English Family'' (OUP, 1958) Alice Fairfax-Lucy
* ''History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3'' (1835) John Burke. Lucy of Charlecote pp 97–101. ({{ISBN|978-0-8063-0742-8}})
* ''History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3'' (1835) John Burke. Lucy of Charlecote pp 97–101. ({{ISBN|978-0-8063-0742-8}})
* {{NHLE|num=1381799 |desc=Charlecote Park|accessdate=15 October 2019}}
* {{NHLE|num=1381799 |desc=Charlecote Park|accessdate=15 October 2019}}
* ''Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889.'' (Victor Gollancz 1983) Alice Fairfax-Lucy.


==External links==
==External links==
{{commons category inline|Charlecote Park}}
{{Commons category|Charlecote Park}}
*[https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/charlecote-park Charlecote Park information at the National Trust]
*[https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/charlecote-park Charlecote Park webpage at the National Trust]
*[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata%3AWikiProject_sum_of_all_paintings%2FCollection%2FCharlecote_Park Wikidata List of Paintings at Charlecote Park]
*[https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3907666 Photos of Charlecote Park and surrounding area on geograph]
*[https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3907666 Photos of Charlecote Park and surrounding area on geograph]
*[http://www.rickmansworthherts.com/webpage70.htm Photographs of Charlecote in 1892 by George Washington Wilson]
*[http://www.rickmansworthherts.com/webpage70.htm Photographs of Charlecote in 1892 by George Washington Wilson]



{{Fairfax family}}
{{Fairfax family}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Fairfax family residences]]
[[Category:Fairfax family residences]]
Line 73: Line 80:
[[Category:Gardens in Warwickshire]]
[[Category:Gardens in Warwickshire]]
[[Category:Gardens by Capability Brown]]
[[Category:Gardens by Capability Brown]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Warwickshire]]
[[Category:Stratford-on-Avon District]]
[[Category:Stratford-on-Avon District]]

Latest revision as of 20:01, 1 December 2024

Charlecote Park
View toward the front in 2017
Charlecote Park is located in Warwickshire
Charlecote Park
Location in Warwickshire
Charlecote Park is located in the United Kingdom
Charlecote Park
Location in United Kingdom
General information
TypeCountry house
LocationCharlecote, Warwickshire, England
Coordinates52°12′19″N 1°37′00″W / 52.20520°N 1.61657°W / 52.20520; -1.61657
Construction startedMid 16th century
OwnerNational Trust
Website
nationaltrust.org.uk/charlecote-park

Charlecote Park (grid reference SP263564) is a grand 16th-century country house, surrounded by its own deer park, on the banks of the River Avon in Charlecote near Wellesbourne, about 4 miles (6 km) east of Stratford-upon-Avon and 5.5 miles (9 km) south of Warwick in Warwickshire, England. It has been administered by the National Trust since 1946. It is a Grade I listed building[1] and is open to the public. The park and gardens are listed Grade II* in Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens.[2]

History

[edit]

The Lucy family owned the land since 1247. Charlecote Park was originally built in 1558 by Sir Thomas Lucy, and Queen Elizabeth I stayed in the room that is now the drawing room. Although the general outline of the Elizabethan house remains, nowadays it is in fact mostly Victorian. Successive generations of the Lucy family had modified Charlecote Park over the centuries, but in 1823, George Hammond Lucy (High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1831) inherited the house and set about recreating the house in its original style.

Charlecote Park covers 185 acres (75 ha), backing on to the River Avon. William Shakespeare was said to have poached rabbits and deer in the park as a young man, and to have been brought before the magistrates.[3]

From 1605 to 1640, the house was organised by Sir Thomas Lucy. He had twelve children with Lady Lucy, who ran the house after he died. She was known for her piety and distributing alms to the poor each Christmas. Her eldest three sons inherited the house in turn, then it fell to her grandson Sir Davenport Lucy.[4]

In the Tudor great hall, the 1680 painting Charlecote Park by Sir Godfrey Kneller is said to be one of the earliest depictions of a black presence in the West Midlands (excluding Roman legionnaires).[5] The painting, of Captain Thomas Lucy, shows a black boy in the background dressed in a blue livery coat and red stockings and wearing a gleaming, metal collar around his neck. The National Trust's Charlecote brochure describes the boy as a "black page boy". In 1735, a black child called Philip Lucy was baptised at Charlecote.[5]

A closer view of Charlecote Park dating from the 1820s.

The lands immediately adjoining the house were further landscaped by Capability Brown in about 1760. This resulted in Charlecote becoming a hostelry destination for notable tourists to Stratford from the late-18th to mid-19th century, including Washington Irving (1818), Sir Walter Scott (1828) and Nathaniel Hawthorne (c 1850).[citation needed]

The "Lucy Deerskin" created by Edith Mary Hinchley[6]

Charlecote was inherited in 1823 by George Hammond Lucy (d. 1845), who in December 1822[7] had married Mary Elizabeth Williams of Bodelwyddan Castle, Wales, upon whose extensive diaries the current "behind the scenes of Victorian Charlecote" are based. Seven years of major renovation and rebuilding, including an extension on the river side, were commenced in 1829 after a builder's survey had revealed grave defects in the fabric.[8] G.H.Lucy's second son, Henry, inherited the estate in 1847 from his elder brother. In 1848, Mary Elizabeth Lucy had the "wretched old Anglo-Norman church" in the Park pulled down. A new church, built to her design, was completed and opened in February 1853.[9]

In 1890, artist Edith Mary Hinchley worked on a family tree image on deerskin that involved the creation of 500 heraldic shields. She did the work because she was a genealogist and a friend of the family. The "Lucy Deerskin" is still at Charlecote Park. After the deaths of both Mary Elizabeth and Henry in 1890, the house was rented out by Henry's eldest daughter and heiress, Ada Christina (d. 1942). She had married Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, (d. 1944), a line of the Fairfax Baronets, who on marriage assumed the name Fairfax-Lucy.[10]

Charlecote Park circa 1880

From this point onwards, the family began selling off parts of the outlying estate to fund their lifestyle. In 1946, Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy, who had inherited the residual estate from his mother Ada, presented Charlecote to the National Trust in lieu of death duties. Sir Montgomerie was succeeded in 1965 by his brother, Sir Brian, whose wife Alice researched the history of Charlecote and assisted the National Trust with the restoration of the house.[11]

Today

[edit]
The lake
The brewery at Charlecote Park
Parterre at Charlecote Park, July 2014

The Great Hall has a barrel-vaulted ceiling made of plaster painted to look like timber and is a fine setting for the splendid collection of family portraits. Other rooms have richly coloured wallpaper, decorated plaster ceilings and wood panelling. There are magnificent pieces of furniture and fine works of art, including a contemporary painting of Queen Elizabeth I. The original two-storey Elizabethan gatehouse that guards the approach to the house remains unaltered.

On display at the house is an original letter from Oliver Cromwell, dated 1654, summoning then-owner Richard Lucy to the Barebones Parliament. Also on display is a 1760 portrait of George Lucy by Thomas Gainsborough, which cost Lucy the sum of eight guineas.[12]

A set of archives for the Lucy family at Charlecote is held by the Warwickshire County Record Office.[13] The house also has a display of carriages and a period laundry and brew room.

In April 2012, Charlecote Park featured as the venue for BBC1's Antiques Roadshow.

Charlecote Park has extensive grounds. A parterre has been recreated from the original 1700s plans. The livestock at Charlecote includes fallow deer and Jacob sheep, which were brought to England from Portugal in 1755 by George Lucy.[14]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Historic England. "Charlecote Park (1381799)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  2. ^ Historic England. "Charlecote Park (1001187)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  3. ^ Terry A. Gray, The Lost Years, Palomar College. Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Richard Cust, ‘Lucy, Alice, Lady Lucy (c.1594–1648)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2008 accessed 25 November 2015
  5. ^ a b Beyond the Grave, Alison Benjamin, 21 March 2007, The Guardian, Retrieved 26 November 2015
  6. ^ Trust, National. "Family tree 533596". www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2020.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ Alice Fairfax-Lucy. Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002].
  8. ^ Alice Fairfax-Lucy. Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002].
  9. ^ Alice Fairfax-Lucy. Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002].
  10. ^ Alice Fairfax-Lucy. Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002].
  11. ^ Alice Fairfax-Lucy. Mistress of Charlecote: The Memoirs of Mary Elizabeth Lucy 1803-1889. [Victor Gollancz 1983; cited Orion edition 2002].
  12. ^ Malan, A. H., (1899) "Famous Homes of Great Britain and Their Stories"
  13. ^ LUCY OF CHARLECOTE at nationalarchives.gov.uk
  14. ^ "Explore the parkland at Charlecote this summer". National Trust.

Bibliography

[edit]
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charlecote Park.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Charlecote_Park&oldid=1260623667"