Powis Castle
Encyclopedia
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
, fortress and grand country mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
located near the town of Welshpool
Welshpool
Welshpool is a town in Powys, Wales, or ancient county Montgomeryshire, from the Wales-England border. The town is low-lying on the River Severn; the Welsh language name Y Trallwng literally meaning 'the marshy or sinking land'...
, in Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
, Mid Wales
Mid Wales
Mid Wales is the name given to the central region of Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the National Assembly for Wales covered the counties of Ceredigion and Powys and the area of Gwynedd that had previously been the district of Meirionydd. A similar definition is used by the BBC...
.
The residence of the Earl of Powis
Earl of Powis
Earl of Powis is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1674 in favour of William Herbert, 3rd Baron Powis. In 1687 he was further honoured when he was made Marquess of Powis...
, the castle is known for its extensive, attractive formal gardens, terraces, park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
land, deerpark
Medieval deer park
A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...
and landscaped estate. The property is under the care of 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...
, who operate it under the name "Powis Castle and Garden".
Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
visited the castle during her tour through England and Wales in 1832.
History
Powis, unlike the castles ConwyConwy Castle
Conwy Castle is a castle in Conwy, on the north coast of Wales.It was built between 1283 and 1289 during King Edward I's second campaign in North Wales....
, Caernarfon
Caernarfon Castle
Caernarfon Castle is a medieval building in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure...
, Harlech
Harlech Castle
Harlech Castle, located in Harlech, Gwynedd, Wales, is a concentric castle, constructed atop a cliff close to the Irish Sea. Architecturally, it is particularly notable for its massive gatehouse....
and nearby Montgomery
Montgomery Castle
Montgomery Castle is a stone masonry castle looking over the town of Montgomery in Powys, mid Wales. It is one of many Norman castles on the border between Wales and England.- Motte & Bailey Castle :...
, which were all built by the English to subdue and rule the Welsh, was the fortress of a dynasty of Welsh princes. In 1266 four years after Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
’s conquest of Wales, Owain ap Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn
Owen de la Pole
Owen de la Pole , also known as Owain ap Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, was the heir presumptive to the Welsh principality of Powys Wenwynwyn until 1283 when it was abolished by the Parliament of Shrewsbury. He became the 1st Lord of Powis after the death of his father Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn c...
, the last hereditary prince of Powis, renounced his royal claim title and was granted the title of Baron de la Pole, (e.g. "of the Poole" a reference to Welshpoole, formerly called just Poole and the location of Powis Castle). The ancient Kingdom of Powys had covered the counties of Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire, also known as Maldwyn is one of thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. Montgomeryshire is still used as a vice-county for wildlife recording...
, much of Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...
, parts of Radnorshire
Radnorshire
Radnorshire is one of thirteen historic and former administrative counties of Wales. It is represented by the Radnorshire area of Powys, which according to the 2001 census, had a population of 24,805...
and more anciently large areas of Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
.
In 1587 a descendant sold the lordship and castle to Sir Edward Herbert (d. 1595) second son of the first Earl of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke is a title created ten times, all in the Peerage of England. It was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, which is the site of Earldom's original seat Pembroke Castle...
. Sir Edward’s wife was a Roman Catholic and the family’s allegiance to Rome and to the Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
kings was to shape its destiny for over a century. On 22 October 1644 Powis Castle was captured by Parliamentary troops and was not returned to the family until the restoration of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
.
The magnificent State bedroom was installed in about 1665 and further improvements were carried out during the 1670s and 1680s, possible under the direction of William Winde, who may also have designed the extraordinary terraced gardens. Winde’s employer was William, third Lord Powis (c.1626–1696), who was created Earl (1674) and then Marquess (1685) of Powis. Barred by his Catholic faith from high office under Charles II, Lord Powis became one of James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
’s chief ministers and followed his master into exile in 1688. The second Marquess was reinstated in 1722, and on the death of the third Marquess in 1748, Powis was inherited by his Protestant kinsman, Henry Arthur Herbert of Oakly Park, Ludlow, who was made Earl of Powis by George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
.
On 6 July 1756 Lord Lyttleton wrote that `About £3,000 laid out upon Powis Castle would make it the most august place in the kingdom.’ and in 1774 Sir John Cullum remarked: `(Powis’s) grand situation, its charming and magnificent prospects, its extensive woody parks of many 100 acres (404,686 m²) … render it one of the first seats of the Kingdom.’
In 1784 Lord Powis’s daughter, Lady Henrietta Herbert, married Edward Clive the eldest son of Clive of India. Their marriage led to the union of the Clive and Powis estates in 1801, and in 1804 the earldom of Powis was recreated for the third time for Edward Clive. Edward then, in accordance with his uncle’s will, duly changed his name to Herbert. The Clive fortune paid for long overdue repairs to the castle which were carried out by Sir Robert Smirke. The garden and park were also improved. Part of Clive of India’s fine collection of old master paintings, French and English furniture, and Italian curiosities, were brought to the castle.
The final alterations to Powis Castle were undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century by G. F. Bodley
George Frederick Bodley
George Frederick Bodley was an English architect working in the Gothic revival style.-Personal life:Bodley was the youngest son of William Hulme Bodley, M.D. of Edinburgh, physician at Hull Royal Infirmary, Kingston upon Hull, who in 1838 retired to his wife's home town, Brighton, Sussex, England....
for George Herbert, fourth Earl of Powis (1862–1952) whose wife improved the garden which she felt had the potential to be `the most beautiful in England and Wales’. She died after a car accident in 1929 and Lord Powis also lost his two sons in the First and Second World Wars. On his death in 1952, he bequeathed the castle and gardens to the National Trust. He was succeeded by his cousin, Edward Herbert (1889–1974), fifth Earl, whose widow, the Countess Powis, remained living in the dower house
Dower house
On an estate, a dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the estate-owner. The widow, often known as the "dowager" usually moves into the dower house from the larger family house on the death of her husband if the heir is married, and upon his marriage if he...
, and was succeeded in turn by Christian Victor Charles Herbert the sixth Earl.
Clive Museum
The Clive Museum features artifacts from IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
that were collected by the Clives in the 18th century, including textiles, armour, weapons, bronzes, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
pieces, jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
, ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
and a formal tent. The museum opened in 1987.
Reynolds portrait
The castle contains the portrait Lady Henrietta Antonia Herbert, Countess of Powys (1758–1830) painted in 1777 by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Lady Henrietta was daughter of Henry Arthur, first Earl of Powis and wife of Edward, second Lord Clive. The hat and the lace scarf which she wears in the portrait are not shown in the engraving of 1778 (hung nearby) and appear to have been added by another hand.The State Bedroom
A remarkable survival of the 1660s, the State Bedroom is the only one in Britain where a balustrade still rails off the bed alcove from the rest of the room. Such a design derives from the days when the English gentryGentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
wished to emulate the elaborate etiquette that regulated the court of Louis XIV at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
. When improvements to the castle were being considered in 1772, the architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard recommended that the bedroom be wholly preserved. A visit to the castle by Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
is still part of the family tradition.
The window latches in the shape of the Prince of Wales's feathers
Prince of Wales's feathers
The Prince of Wales's feathers is the heraldic badge of the Heir Apparent to the British and Commonwealth Realms thrones. It consists of three white feathers emerging from a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the motto Ich dien...
commemorate the visit of the future King Edward VII. His son and daughter-in-law (later King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
, visited in 1909.
Clive of India’s Cat
Displayed in the Long Gallery, the marble group of a cat and snake, is RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and dates from between 1st century BC and 2nd century AD. Representations of cats are rare in Roman art and the Powis group is unique amongst surviving classical sculpture. Two similar compositions in mosaic are known, from Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
and at the Vatican Museum, but these both depict a cat attacking a bird.
It seems most likely that the marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
was purchased by Clive of India for his wife on his visit to Italy in 1774. The marble was quarried on the Greek island of Thasos
Thasos
Thasos or Thassos is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea, close to the coast of Thrace and the plain of the river Nestos but geographically part of Macedonia. It is the northernmost Greek island, and 12th largest by area...
and is distinctive for the large embedded crystals which make sculpting difficult.
The Garden
The garden at Powis has survived the 18th century reaction against the formality of earlier garden design, and Powis is thus one of the few places in Britain where a true baroqueBaroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
garden may still be fully appreciated. It seems the terraces were hewn from the rock in the early 1670s under the direction of Frenchman Adrian Duvall of Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, although William Winde may also have been involved, up until his death in 1722. The concept for formal or terraces was introduced into northern Europe from the gardens of 16th century Italy.
It seem that Duval may well have been an expert in hydraulics
Hydraulics
Hydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics is used for the generation, control,...
, having been principally responsible for the impressive original water gardens, which were dismantled by 1809. One notable item salvaged from the garden fountains is the lead statue of “Fame”, attributed to the workshop of Dutchman John van Nost (d. 1729), and now situated in The Courtyard. The piece seems to have been struck from the same mould as the Pegasus and fame supplied by van Nost between 1705 and 1716 to Sir Nicholas Shireburn at Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst is the name of a rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's.-The Estate:...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
.
A great deal of work to restore and improve the gardens was undertaken from 1911 by Violet
Violet Herbert, Countess of Powis
Violet Ida Eveline Herbert, Countess of Powis and 16th Baroness Darcy de Knayth was a British peeress....
wife of the fourth Earl, including the laying out of the formal gardens at the far south eastern corner.
See also
- List of castles in Wales
- List of gardens in Wales
- Powis HousePowis HousePowis House was an 18th century mansion in London, England. It stood on the northern side of Great Ormond Street, not far from Queen Square....
- the family's former London residence - Leighton Hall, PowysLeighton Hall, PowysLeighton Hall is an estate and farming complex, located outside Welshpool in Powys, Wales. A grade 1 listed building and estate farming complex, located on the opposite side of the valley to Powis Castle...
- a grade 1 hall located on the opposite side of the valley