Hatchlands Park
Encyclopedia
East Clandon
East Clandon is a village and parish in Surrey, England on the A246 between the towns of Guildford to the west and Leatherhead to the east. Neighbouring villages include West Clandon and West Horsley....
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, 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...
covering 170 hectares (430 acres). It is located near Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
along the A246 between West Clandon
West Clandon
West Clandon is a village in Surrey, England. It is within 4 miles of the M25 and the A3. Nearby villages include Send, Ripley, Ockham, East and West Horsley. Local towns are Woking and Guildford....
and West Horsley
West Horsley
West Horsley is a small village between Guildford and Leatherhead in Surrey, England. Neighbouring villages include East Horsley, Ockham, West Clandon and East Clandon. It lies on the A246, and south of the M25 and the A3. The Sheepleas Woods are located in the extreme south of the village, and...
.
History
The park initially belonged to the Chertsey AbbeyChertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey.It was founded by Saint Erkenwald, later Bishop of London, in 666 AD and he became the first abbot. In the 9th century it was sacked by the Danes and refounded from Abingdon Abbey...
with the park being mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. In 1544, 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...
, it was granted by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
to Sir Anthony Browne and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald (commonly known as 'The Fair Geraldine').
The first visual record of the park is shown on a John Seller map of 1693.
The park was purchased in 1750 by Admiral Boscawen who landscaped the grounds; for the house he employed the architect Stiff Leadbetter
Stiff Leadbetter
Stiff Leadbetter was a British architect and builder, one of the most successful architect–builders of the 1750s and 1760s, working for many leading aristocratic families.- Career :...
. Admiral Boscawen's widow, Fanny sold the estate in 1770 to the Sumner family of the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
; both father and son made further alterations to the property. The father, William Brightwell Sumner commissioned Benjamin Armitage to make alterations, and his son, George Holme Sumner asked Humphry Repton
Humphry Repton
Humphry Repton was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the 19th century...
(1752–1818) to redesign the park and garden. Towards the end of the century, Joseph Bonomi
Joseph Bonomi
Joseph Bonomi or Giuseppi Bonomi may mean either of a father-son pair notable in architecture and sculpture:*Joseph Bonomi the Elder , architect*Joseph Bonomi the Younger , sculptor, Egyptologist...
, ARA, was commissioned to alter several rooms and to impose a frontispiece on the west front.
In 1888, the Sumner family sold the estate to Stuart, later Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel
Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel
Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel was a British industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal politician. He sat Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire between 1880 and 1894 and was recognised as the leader of the Welsh MP's...
. He had extensive changes made to the fabric of the house. Rendel was mainly his own architect but he also employed his nephew by marriage, Halsey Ricardo, and commissioned Reginald Blomfield
Reginald Blomfield
Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period.- Early life and career :...
to build the Music Room. Rendel coloured and gilded Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
's ceilings, embellished the staircase with rococo decorations and switched the main entrance of the house to the east. Rendel also commissioned Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...
to design the gardens which contain a parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
.
Hatchlands Park was passed to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
by a grandson of Lord Rendel
Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel
Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel was a British industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal politician. He sat Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire between 1880 and 1894 and was recognised as the leader of the Welsh MP's...
and is open to the public, but closed in the winter months. There is a café and shop. There is a cobbled
Cobblestone
Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...
courtyard and in the grounds there is a disused ice house.
The interior
The house contains splendid interiors by Robert AdamRobert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
, decorated in appropriately nautical style: anchors, cannon, dolphins and sea-nymphs are presided over by Neptune himself run through the house reflecting its first owner Admiral Boscawen.
Cobbe Collection
The house is home to the Cobbe Collection; with forty two historic keyboard instrumentKeyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
s it is the world's largest group of its kind. Many of the instruments are associated with famous composers.
The instruments include harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
s and fortepiano
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
s dating from 1750 to 1840 - including an Erard pianoforte reputedly made for Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. It is one of the few French instruments of the time to escape destruction for firewood following the 1789 revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. The pieces were brought together to represent those instrument makers who were highly regarded or patronised by composers, rather than to illustrate a complete or technical history of keyboard manufacture. Twelve of the instruments were actually owned or played by great composers such as Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
, J.C. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt
Liszt
Liszt is a Hungarian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Franz Liszt , Hungarian composer and pianist* Adam Liszt , father of Franz Liszt* Anna Liszt , mother of Franz Liszt...
, Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
and Elgar.
There are concerts held in two series a year featuring the historic clavichord
Clavichord
The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...
s, harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
s and fortepiano
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
s and occasional tours of the whole collection by its owner Alec Cobbe, who lives there.
External links
- Hatchlands Park site at the UK National Trust.
- The Cobbe Collection Includes details of concerts and photos of instruments