Today we’ve reached H in the A – Z of Ashdown and I’m
writing about a house built for love of a queen: No, not Ashdown this time, but
the grand mansion of Hamstead Marshall, near Newbury. It was at Hamstead that
William Craven planned a “miniature Heidelberg” for Elizabeth of Bohemia, The
Winter Queen. The intention was to model this mansion on the Palatine palace
lost during the 30 Years War. As with many things to do with Craven and
Elizabeth the term “miniature” was relative. This was a very grand house
indeed. However, after the death of Elizabeth in 1662 its design did not mirror
Heidelberg much at all.
Lady Craven, the widow of Sir William Craven, bought the
estate of Hamstead from Francis Jhones in 1620 as part of her policy of turning the vast Craven fortune into land ownership. As at Ashdown, building work
started some time in 1661 as soon as Lord Craven had returned from exile in Europe. The
grand house at Hamstead Marshall was designed by Sir Balthazar Gerbier with the
assistance of William Winde. When Gerbier died in the early 1660s Winde took
over the design and build. Papers in the Bodleian Library in Oxford give a
detailed description of work on the house, which continued for the rest of the
17th century. They include 40 drawings that show designs for
gateposts, porticoes and stabling and a floor plan with 30 rooms including a
“withdrawing room to repair the records” a “room to repose after bathing” and a
distillery, spicery, confectioner’s room and “Lardery.”
As with Kyp’s view of Ashdown, his engraving of Hamstead
Marshall is stylised but there is no reason to suppose it is inaccurate in
detail. Aerial photographs have shown the outlines of the parterre gardens, and
the remaining gateposts show very fine details.
In 1718, 21 years after the death of the first Earl of
Craven, Hamstead Marshall burned to the ground when a brazier was left untended
on the roof. Very little is left of this magnificent mansion that was
originally intended as a palace for a queen.
In her book Craven Country Penelope Stokes writes
extensively about the fascinating history of Hamstead Marshall. You can find
more information here. http://www.hamsteadmarshall.net/history/cc.pdf
6 comments:
That is so tragic. Nothing left but 2 lonely gateposts. I am amazed at how many fires start that way. A NYC church was nearly razed with a roof fire a few years ago.
All I could think of was what idiot leaves a torch (or a fire) unattended on a roof???
I guess the answer is a lot of people!
Yes, unfortunately fire was a huge danger to all these old buildings and of course once it took hold there was no practical way of putting it out, simply no resources great enough to cope. I've read about so many tragic fires including one at Coleshill House in the 1950s. Coleshill was built around the same time as Ashdown and Hamstead Marshall and it's roof cupola crashed straight through the floors beneath when the roof gave way.
Hamstead Marshall is a very poignant site these days.
I do not know this site, but sounds like another ruin I must visit. Those gateposts look familar, perhaps I have seen them before and just not known what I was looking at. So sad we have lost so much history. But then how lucky we are to have people as yourself to help keep it alive and share with us! Minerva ~
Thank you, Minerva. I find lost villages and lost mansions fascinating - the footprint of the lives that were once lived there.
Hi did the Craven family build another house after the fire? As my Grandfather, Augustus Craven, was a member of the Craven family, I am very interested in finding out all information of them.
Hi Angie
Yes, the Cravens converted the hunting lodge on the estate into a bigger house, Hamstead Lodge. Email me if you would like some more information on your grandfather's family. Thanks!
Post a Comment