Broadlands
Encyclopedia
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
, located near the town of Romsey
Romsey
Romsey is a small market town in the county of Hampshire, England.It is 8 miles northwest of Southampton and 11 miles southwest of Winchester, neighbouring the village of North Baddesley...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
History
The original manorManorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
and area known as Broadlands has belonged to Romsey Abbey
Romsey Abbey
Romsey Abbey is a parish church of the Church of England in Romsey, a market town in Hampshire, England. Until the dissolution it was the church of a Benedictine nunnery.-Background:...
since before the time of the 11-century English Norman Conquest
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
.
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, Broadlands was sold to Sir Francis Fleming in 1547. His daughter married Edward St. Barbe, and the manor remained the property of the St. Barbe family for the next 117 years. Sir John St. Barbe made many improvements to the manor before it was left to his cousin Humphrey Sydenham in 1723. When Sydenham was ruined by the 18th-century South Sea Bubble, he proceeded to sell Broadlands to Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston
Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston
Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston was an Irish nobleman and British politician, the eldest son of Sir John Temple, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons....
in 1736. It was 1st Viscount Palmerston who began the deformalisation of the gardens between the river and the house and produced the (broad-lands) the "gentle descent to the river".
In 1767 a major architectural "transformation" was begun by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, an architect and landscape designer, and completed by architect Henry Holland
Henry Holland (architect)
Henry Holland was an architect to the English nobility. Born in Fulham, London, his father also Henry ran a building firm and he built several of Capability Brown's buildings, although Henry would have learnt a lot from his father about the practicalities of construction it was under Brown that he...
, which led to making Broadlands the Palladian-style
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
mansion seen today.
Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston
Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston
Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston FRS was a British politician.-Life:He succeeded to the peerage in 1757, and was educated at Clare College, Cambridge from 1757 to 1759...
had requested that Brown go there and seize upon the "capabilities" of the earlier Tudor and Jacobean manor house. Between 1767 and 1780, William Kent
William Kent
William Kent , born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, was an eminent English architect, landscape architect and furniture designer of the early 18th century.He was baptised as William Cant.-Education:...
's earlier "deformalising work" was completed, as well as further landscaping, planting, clearing and riverside work.
In current times
It is occupied by Lord and Lady BrabourneNorton Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne
Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne , known until 2005 as Lord Romsey, is a British Peer.-Life and education:...
(who until recently enjoyed the courtesy style of Lord and Lady Romsey, a subsidiary title of Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma
Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma
Patricia Edwina Victoria Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, is a British peeress and former lady-in-waiting to her third cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. She was the elder daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and his wife, the heiress Edwina Ashley, a patrilineal...
, Lord Brabourne's mother, whose late husband was John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne
John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne
John Ulick Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, CBE , professionally known as John Brabourne, was a British peer, television producer and Academy-award nominated film producer....
). Norton Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne
Norton Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne
Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull, 8th Baron Brabourne , known until 2005 as Lord Romsey, is a British Peer.-Life and education:...
is the grandson of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Earl Mountbatten of Burma
The title Earl Mountbatten of Burma was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1947 for Rear Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy of India....
. Should the title fall from the 2nd Countess Mountbatten on death to her son, the seat of the earldom would again be Broadlands as it was in Earl Mountbatten's time.
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Hampshire
- List of gardens in England
- List of historic houses in England