Wimpole Hall
Encyclopedia
Wimpole
Wimpole is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about 8½ miles southwest of Cambridge. It is sometimes sub-divided into "Old Wimpole" and "New Wimpole". People from Wimpole include the Independent minister John Conder...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, 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...
, about 8½ miles (14 km) southwest of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. The house, begun in 1640, and its 3,000 acres (12 km²) of parkland and farmland are owned by 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...
and are regularly open to the public.
Wimpole is the largest house in Cambridgeshire. Over the centuries, many notable architects have worked on it, including its first owner, Thomas Chicheley
Thomas Chicheley
Sir Thomas Chicheley was a politician in England in the seventeenth century who fell from favour in the reign of James II. His name is sometimes spelt as Chichele....
(between 1640 and 1670), James Gibbs
James Gibbs
James Gibbs was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Scotland, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England...
(between 1713 and 1730), James Thornhill
James Thornhill
Sir James Thornhill was an English painter of historical subjects, in the Italian baroque tradition.-Life:...
(1721), Henry Flitcroft
Henry Flitcroft
Henry Flitcroft was a major English architect in the second generation of Palladianism. He came from a simple background: his father was a labourer in the gardens at Hampton Court and he began as a joiner by trade. Working as a carpenter at Burlington House, he fell from a scaffold and broke his leg...
(around 1749), John Soane
John Soane
Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...
(1790s), and H. E. Kendall (1840s).
Before the present Wimpole Hall was built in around 1640, there was a moated manor house set in a small 81 hectare (200 acre) deer-park
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:...
. Situated to the north and south of this were three medieval villages: Bennall End, Thresham End and Green End. Wimpole Hall's grounds were laid out and modified by landscape designers such as George London
George London (landscape architect)
George London was an English nurseryman and garden designer. He aspired to the baroque style and worked on the gardens at Hampton Court, Melbourne Hall and Wimpole Hall....
and Henry Wise (1693–1705), Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...
(1720s), Robert Greening (1740s), 'Capability' Brown (1767), and 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...
(1801–1809). The parkland as it exists today is an overlay of the work of these landscape designers and gardeners, and was completed under the auspices of Elsie and George Bambridge
George Bambridge
George Bambridge was a British diplomat. His wife Elsie Kipling was the daughter of author Rudyard Kipling.-Early life and education:...
. Elsie, the daughter of Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, revitalised the house. Thanks to her efforts, this National Trust property is in the state it is in today.
Bridgeman's formal grand avenue sweeps away from the south front of the house for two and a half miles in contrast with the remainder of the park which was "naturalised" by Capability Brown. The North Park is particularly attractive with its belts of woodland, gentle rolling hills with individual trees and clumps of trees. The central feature of the North Park is the Gothic Tower and the restored lakes in the valley below.
In the grounds are a chain of lakes (1695–1767), a church (1749) - there are some pictures and a description of the church at the Cambridgeshire Churches website, a folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
(the false Gothic Tower; 1768), a farm (1792), a walled garden (18th century), and a stable block (1851).
Ownership
The owners of the modern estate, in chronological order, have been:- 1640 Sir Thomas ChicheleyThomas ChicheleySir Thomas Chicheley was a politician in England in the seventeenth century who fell from favour in the reign of James II. His name is sometimes spelt as Chichele....
(c.1613–1699) - 1686 Sir John CutlerCutler BaronetsThe Baronetcy of Cutler of London was created in the Baronetage of England on 12 November 1660 for John Cutler of Deptford.Cutler was Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London four times. He served as High Sheriff of Kent in 1676. He was Member of Parliament for Taunton...
(d.1693) - 1693 Charles Robartes, 2nd Earl of RadnorCharles Robartes, 2nd Earl of RadnorCharles Bodvile Robartes, 2nd Earl of Radnor PC FRS was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1679 until 1685 when he inherited a peerage as Earl of Radnor...
(1660–1723) - 1710 John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 4th Earl of Clare (d.1711)
- 1711 Henrietta Holles
- 1713 Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl MortimerEdward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl MortimerEdward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer , styled Lord Harley between 1711 and 1724, was a British politician, bibliophile, collector and patron of the arts.-Background:...
(1689–1741) - 1740 Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of HardwickePhilip Yorke, 1st Earl of HardwickePhilip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke PC was an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord Chancellor. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1754 and 1756 and 1757 until 1762....
(1690–1764) - 1764 Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of HardwickePhilip Yorke, 2nd Earl of HardwickePhilip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke FRS , and eldest son of the 1st earl, was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.In 1741 he became a fellow of the Royal Society...
(1720–1790) - 1790 Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of HardwickePhilip Yorke, 3rd Earl of HardwickePhilip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke KG, PC, FRS , known as Philip Yorke until 1790, was a British politician.-Background and education:...
(1757–1834) - 1834 Charles Yorke, 4th Earl of HardwickeCharles Yorke, 4th Earl of HardwickeAdmiral Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke PC , was a British naval commander and Conservative politician.-Background:...
(1799–1873) - 1873 Charles Yorke, 5th Earl of HardwickeCharles Yorke, 5th Earl of HardwickeCharles Philip Yorke, 5th Earl of Hardwicke PC, DL , styled Viscount Royston until 1873, and nicknamed Champagne Charlie for his love of the high life, was a British aristocrat, Conservative politician, dandy and bankrupt.-Background:Hardwicke was the eldest son of Admiral Charles Yorke, 4th Earl...
('Champagne Charlie') - 1894 Thomas Charles Agar-Robartes, 6th Viscount Clifden
- 1919 Francis Gerald Agar-Robartes, 7th Viscount Clifden
- 1938 Captain and Mrs George Bambridge
- 1976 The National Trust