Stratfield Saye House
Encyclopedia
Stately home
A stately home is a "great country house". It is thus a palatial great house or in some cases an updated castle, located in the British Isles, mostly built between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property...
at Stratfield Saye
Stratfield Saye
Stratfield Saye is a village and civil parish in the north-east of the English county of Hampshire.The parish includes the hamlets of West End Green, Fair Oak Green and Fair Cross.The name means 'Street-Field of the Saye family'...
in the north-east of the English
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...
county of 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...
. It has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since 1817.
Early history
The Manor of Stratfield Saye was made up from the property of two much older manors. In the 12th century it was owned by the Stoteville family and was then passed, through marriage, to the de Saye family at the start of the 13th century.Prior to 1370 the manor passed to the Dabridgecourts through marriage and, in 1629, they sold the property to the Pitt family, cousins of the great father-and-son Prime Ministers.
The main part of the house was extensively enlarged around 1630 by Sir William Pitt, Comptroller of the Household
Comptroller of the Household
The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the English royal household, currently the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department, and often a cabinet member. He was an ex officio member of the Board of Green Cloth, until that body was abolished in the reform of the local...
to King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. Further extensive alterations were carried out to the house and park in the 18th century, by George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers
George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers
George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers was a British diplomat and politician.-Background and education:He born in Geneva, the eldest son of George Pitt of Stratfieldsaye, Hampshire and his wife Mary Louise Bernier from Strasbourg. General Sir William Augustus Pitt was his younger brother...
.
A nations gift
The estate was sold to the nation in 1817, in order that it could be given by a grateful nation to the victorious Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of WellingtonArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
. They gave 600,000 pounds for the construction of a splendid Waterloo Palace to rival the magnificence of Blenheim Palace, home of the Churchill/Marlborough family. The Hampshire site Wellington chose in 1817 was the 5000 acres (20.2 km²) estate of Stratfield Saye, home of the Pitt family. He originally planned to demolish it, and replace it with a more prestigious home, to be known as Waterloo Palace. The Duke abandoned these plans in 1821 when they proved to be too expensive, and subsequently made numerous additions and improvements to the existing building. Henry Wellesley, 3rd Duke of Wellington
Henry Wellesley, 3rd Duke of Wellington
Henry Wellesley, 3rd Duke of Wellington was the son of Lord Charles Wellesley and grandson of the 1st Duke of Wellington....
and Arthur Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington
Arthur Charles Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington, KG, GCVO, GCTE, DL was a member of the well-known Wellesley family. He joined the military and served in the Household Division...
are buried at Stratfield Saye house.
The Wellington Exhibition
The stables building now contains the Wellington Exhibition, which depicts the life and times of the 1st Duke. It houses a large collection of military mementoes, and the Duke's magnificent, cast bronze funeral carriage, made from melted-down French cannons captured at the Battle of WaterlooBattle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. Strathfield
Strathfield, New South Wales
Strathfield is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strathfield is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield...
, in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, was named after this house.
Duke of Wellington Commemorative Column
Not to be confused with Wellington's ColumnWellington's Column
Wellington's Column, or the Waterloo Memorial, is a monument to the Duke of Wellington standing on the corner of William Brown Street and Lime Street, Liverpool, England...
in Liverpool
The Duke of Wellington Commemorative Column stands at the entrance to Stratfield Saye on the eastern Heckfield
Heckfield
Heckfield is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies between Reading, Berkshire and Hook, Hart. It is the location of Highfield Park, where Neville Chamberlain died in 1940, and it is adjacent to Stratfield Saye House, the large stately home that has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since...
side. The column, which can be viewed from the A33
A33 road
The A33 is a major road in England. The road formerly ran from Reading to Southampton, but now consists of three disjoint sections:*Reading to Basingstoke*The A30 road south of Basingstoke to just north of Winchester...
, is topped by a bronze statue by Baron Carlo Marochetti
Carlo Marochetti
Baron Carlo Marochetti was a sculptor, born in Turin but raised in Paris as a French citizen.-Life:Carlo Marochetti was born on 4 January 1805. His first teachers were François Joseph Bosio and Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris. Here his statue of A Young Girl playing with a Dog won a medal in 1829, and...
. The column was erected in the 19th century.
Stratfield Saye in popular culture
Filming of the Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
film War Horse
War Horse (film)
War Horse is a 2011 British-American war drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and is intended for release in the United States on 25 December 2011 and in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2012...
began in August 2010 with the cavalry scenes being filmed at Stratfield Saye House, where incidentally Wellington's war horse "Copenhagen" is buried.
External links
- Official Stratfield Saye House website
- Victoria Henshaw
- Hampshire Treasures, by Hampshire County Council and next page