Althorp - WikiHQ

Althorp (<small>popularly pronounced</small> ) is a Grade I listed stately home and estate in the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, England of about . By road it is about northwest of the county town of Northampton and about northwest of central London, situated between the villages of Great Brington and Harlestone. It has been held by the Spencer family for more than 500 years, and has been owned by Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer since 1992. It was also the home of Lady Diana Spencer (later Princess of Wales) from her parents' divorce until her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles III).

Althorp is mentioned as a small hamlet in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Olletorp", and by 1377 it had become a village with a population of more than fifty people. By 1505 there were no longer any tenants living there, and in 1508, John Spencer purchased Althorp estate with the funds generated from his family's sheep-rearing business. Althorp became one of the prominent stately homes in England. The house dates to 1688, replacing an earlier house that was once visited by Charles I. The Spencer family amassed an extensive art collection and other valuable household items. During the 18th century, the house became a major cultural hub in England, and parties were regularly held, attracting many prominent members of Great Britain's ruling class. George John, 2nd Earl Spencer, who owned Althorp between 1783 and his death in 1834, developed one of the largest private libraries in Europe at the palace, which grew to over 100,000 books by the 1830s. After falling on hard times, John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, known as the Red Earl, in 1892 sold much of the collection to Enriqueta Rylands, who was building the University of Manchester Library. Many of Althorp's furnishings were sold during the twentieth century, and between 1975 and 1992 alone approximately 20% of the contents were auctioned.

The house at Althorp was a "classically beautiful" red brick Tudor building, but its appearance was radically altered, starting in 1788, when the architect Henry Holland was commissioned to make extensive changes. Mathematical tiles were added to the exterior, encasing the brick, and four Corinthian pilasters were added to the front. The grand hall entrance to the house, Wootton Hall, was cited by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "the noblest Georgian room in the county". The great dining room in the east wing extension of the house was added in 1877 to designs by John Macvicar Anderson, its walls hung with faded, red damask silk. Numerous fireplaces and furnishings were brought to Althorp from Spencer House in London during the Blitz for safekeeping and still remain. The Picture Gallery stretches for on the first floor of the west wing, and is one of the best remaining examples of the original Tudor oak woodwork and ambiance in the mansion. It has an extensive collection of portraits, including Anthony van Dyck's War and Peace, a John de Critz portrait of James I, a Mary Beale portrait of Charles II, and many others. Some £2 million was spent on redecorating the palace in the 1980s, during which time most of the religious paintings of Althorp were sold.

In total, the grounds of Althorp estate contain 28 listed buildings and structures, including nine planting stones. The former falconry, now a Grade I listed building, was built in 1613. Gardener's House is listed as a Grade II* listed building in its own right, as are the Grade II listed West and East Lodges. The mustard-yellow Grade II* listed stable block, designed by architect Roger Morris with a Palladian influence, was ordered by Charles, 5th Earl of Sunderland in the early 1730s. The French landscape architect André Le Nôtre was commissioned to lay out the park and grounds in the 1660s, and further alterations were made during the late 18th century under Henry Holland. Following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, she was interred on a small island in the middle of the ornamental Round Oval lake. A Doric-style temple with Diana's name inscribed on top, situated across from the lake, is a tourist attraction during July and August when the house and estate are open to the public, although the exhibition centre, situated in the old stable block, closed permanently in 2013.

Etymology

A manor existed at Althorp in medieval times. It was referred to in the Domesday Book as "Olletorp", meaning Olla's Thorp, believed to refer to a medieval lord named Olla. Thorp is a word of Scandinavian origin, which would have been pronounced as "throop" or "thrupp", and in Danish probably meant "daughter's settlement". In the 13th and 15th centuries it was recorded as "Holtropp" and "Aldrop", although when the estate was bought by John Spencer in 1508 it began to be referred to as "Oldthorpe".

The name today is properly pronounced as "Awltrupp", which is not officially recognised on paper and by the media. The current owner, Charles Spencer, noted that none of his family refer to it as Althorp, and that his father insisted on pronouncing it "Awl-trupp". When he assumed ownership in 1992, the BBC Pronunciation Department contacted him and the current "Awl-thorp" was agreed upon.

History

Early history

A hamlet named Althorp existed here in medieval times, believed to have been situated on the southwest side of the park, east of West Lodge. It was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a population of ten at the time, and being part of the parish of Brington. It was officially designated as an "extra parochial district" for centuries under the New Bottle Grove Hundred of Brington, but by 1874 it was being cited as an independent civil parish. 21 residents were documented in 1327, and in 1377 fifty people were reported to have paid Poll Tax over the age of 14. During the 15th century the population of the village diminished, and in 1505 there were no longer any tenants living there. By 1577 most of the land was converted into four substantial sheep pastures. After beginning construction of Wormleighton Manor the previous year with some 60 relatives, John Spencer bought Althorp in 1508 for £800 from the Catesby family. At the time Spencer was also lord of the manors of Fenny Compton, Stoneton, Nobottle, Great Brington, Little Brington, Harlestone, Glassthorpe, Flore, Wicken, Wyke Hamon, Upper Boddington, Lower Boddington and Hinton, and owned numerous other properties. The park took some four years to establish, with 300 acres of grassland, 100 acres of woodland and 40 acres of water.

When John Spencer died in 1522, he passed the estate to his youngest son, Sir William Spencer, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who held it until his death in 1532. Only a boy at the time of William's death, his son John Spencer inherited Althorp and held it until his death in 1586, when he passed it to his son, also John, who died in 1600. John's son, Robert, was created the 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton on 21 July 1603. Anne of Denmark and Prince Henry came to Althorp on 25 June 1603 from Dingley Hall on their way to Windsor from Edinburgh. She was welcomed by an entertainment scripted by Ben Jonson in which the Fairy Queen Mab gave her a jewel, and she was celebrated as "Oriana". Lady Anne Clifford described the "infinite number of lords of ladies" who came to see the new queen on Sunday. On Monday, she moved on to Easton Neston.

King Charles I is documented to have visited Althorp during his reign. The drawing room was built and the main hall enlarged for the occasion, with £1,300 spent on the banquet, an exorbitant sum for the period, . Upon Robert Spencer's death in 1627 Althorp devolved to William Spencer, 2nd Baron Spencer of Wormleighton who held it until his death in 1636. William's eldest son, Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, known as The Lord Spencer between 1636 and June 1643, fought in the Battle of Edgehill in 1642 and was rewarded for his services on 8 June 1643 when the title of Earl of Sunderland was bestowed upon him, although the title cost him £3,000. He then fought in the siege of Gloucester in August 1643 and the First Battle of Newbury on 20 September 1643, where he was killed, aged 23, by a cannonball.

thumb|right|upright=1.4|Althorp in 1677 by [[Johannes Vorstermans]]

Following Henry's death, the estate passed to his eldest son Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, just two years of age at the time. Cosimo III visited Althorp in 1669, documenting it in his Travels of Cosmo III. Grand Duke of Tuscany, through England, in 1669. Robert built the current house in 1688 and made a series of changes to Althorp park. However, Robert's bad temper and his reputation as a ruthless advocate of absolute monarchy made him numerous enemies, and he was forced to leave the country and flee to the Netherlands the same year. He later underwent a political rehabilitation, becoming Lord Chamberlain of the Household in April 1697 and Lord Justice for a short period before retiring from public life in December of that year, after which he lived a secluded life at Althorp until his death in 1702. Robert passed Althorp to his son, Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, who held it for twenty years. Described by John Evelyn as "a youth of extraordinary hopes," Charles inherited his father's passion for intrigue and repellent manners, and from his early years he had a great love of books, spending his leisure and his wealth in expanding the library at Althorp. Charles's second marriage to Anne Churchill, daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough in 1700 was an important alliance for the Spencers and for his descendants; through it he was introduced to political life, and later the dukedom of Marlborough came to the Spencers. In 1722 he was implicated in what became known as the Atterbury Plot, to restore the House of Stuart, and his death was one of the factors which brought the Plot to light. Althorp was then occupied by his son Robert Spencer, 4th Earl of Sunderland, who died childless in 1729. As a result, his brother, Charles, became 5th Earl of Sunderland, and subsequently 3rd Duke of Marlborough after the death of his aunt, Henrietta Godolphin (née Churchill), 2nd Duchess of Marlborough. Charles later led the naval descent on the French coastal port of St Malo during the Seven Years' War, after passing Althorp  to the 3rd Earl's son, John Spencer, in January 1733. John Spencer, along with Charles and Thomas Coram, William Hogarth and others, was involved in the charter of the Foundling Hospital. Upon his death in 1746, John passed his estates to his son John, only 12 years of age at the time, beneficiary to the greatest inheritance in the kingdom at the time with an income of almost £30,000 a year.

John served as Member of Parliament for Warwick from 1756 to 1761. He was renowned for his heavy spending on his political pursuits and campaigns, "indulging in the fiercely competitive and heinously expensive business of fighting elections to Parliament – which effectively meant bribing people to vote for his candidate rather than that of another magnate". He spent £120,000 in one campaign alone and spent heavily on his estates, building Spencer House in London. He also wore expensive fashionable attire such as "diamond-buckled shoes". Althorp frequently hosted parties attended by the political and cultural elite, and it became known as a place of indulgence and festivities. At dinners and picnics in the gardens, John hired musicians to play French horns and organised unusual spectacles to entertain guests, such as a "Hooray Henry Olympics", as Charles Spencer calls it, with a donkey race for Lord Fordwick, dance competitions offering a guinea as the first prize, and sack races with the first prize of 30 shillings. The Christmas of 1755 was a grand affair. John celebrated his 21st birthday with a ball at the house on 20 December during which he secretly married 18-year-old Margaret Georgiana Poyntz; the couple did not inform anyone for several days. Around 5,000 guests were invited to a celebration party organised by the Spencers in a shed on the village green in the nearby village of Brington, consuming some 11,000 pints of beer. Althorp was "buzzing with activity", and France's top chefs were brought to Althorp to cater for the family and their guests during the week. He was created Baron Spencer of Althorp and Viscount Spencer by George III on 3 April 1761, and on 1 November 1765, he was given the title Viscount Althorp and made the first Earl Spencer. He was also High Steward of St Albans in 1772 and Mayor of St Albans in 1779. John's daughter, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was also known for her liberal spending, and although she became one of Britain's most prominent socialites in the late 18th century, with many political and literary connections, she suffered from a gambling addiction and had an eating disorder.

upright|thumb|left|[[George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer|George John, 2nd Earl Spencer, by Sir Joshua Reynolds]]

John's son George John, 2nd Earl Spencer inherited Althorp after his father's death in 1783. He served as Whig MP for Northampton from 1780 to 1782 and for Surrey from 1782 to 1783 before accepting the title of 2nd Earl Spencer. He was later Home Secretary from 1806 to 1807 under Lord Grenville in the Ministry of All the Talents. Extremely interested in literary pursuits, he developed one of the largest private libraries in Europe at Althorp. He was the instigator and first President of the Roxburghe Club (an exclusive bibliophilic club), founded in 1812, President of the Royal Institution from 1813 to 1827, and Commissioner of the Public Records in 1831, among other literary pursuits. In later life, his collecting habit had become an obsession, and he attempted to collect every volume ever published in Britain. Such was his desire to obtain as complete a collection as possible, that when Napoleon instigated the secularisation of religious houses in south Germany, Spencer used the local British agent and Benedictine monk, Alexander Horn to acquire many of their rare books and manuscripts. Althorp became a major cultural hub of England during his time; at one Christmas, the actor David Garrick, the historian Edward Gibbon, the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan and the painter Joshua Reynolds, among other artistic figures attended a party there together. However, George John's spending became problematic for the Spencers, especially as at the time they were feeling the impact of the agricultural depressions brought on by the Napoleonic Wars. By the time of his death in 1834 he had amassed a debt of £500,000, which he passed onto his son, John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer.

The 3rd Earl became an active statesman, serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne from 1830 to 1834. Along with Lord John Russell, he led the fight to pass the Reform Bill of 1832, making more than twenty speeches, and is generally considered responsible for its victory. Despite his debts, in respect for his father, John managed to retain the massive book collection, and also continue to run the other Spencer houses at Wimbledon and Spencer House in London, as well as his farm in Wiseton and shooting retreat in Norfolk. He achieved this mainly by far less extravagant living, spending much of the year at Wiseton where the running costs were £1,200 compared with the £5,000 needed to run Althorp and pay the staff of 40 in the house. As a result, Althorp was largely abandoned during the late 1830s and early 1840s. John also leased out his lands and gardens and sold land in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, repaying all the debt by the time of his death in 1845, and beginning to run his properties at a profit. His son Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer, who owned Althorp from 1845 until his death in 1857, also retained the collection.

John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, known as the Red Earl, inherited Althorp in 1857. He served as a Liberal Party politician and was a close friend of British prime minister William Gladstone, who he served under in all four of his cabinets. Although politically successful, John fell into hard times financially and was forced to eventually sell much of the enormous library collection in 1892 to Enriqueta Rylands, who was building the University of Manchester Library. After dying childless in 1910, John passed Althorp to his half brother, Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, who served as Lord Chamberlain from 1905 to 1912 in the Liberal administrations headed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith.

Modern history

thumb|right|250px|[[Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, who owned Althorp from 1910 until his death in 1922. Portrait by Sir William Orpen.]]

Times became more difficult for the Spencers by the late 19th century, and many of their assets had to be sold off. Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer inherited the estate after his father Charles' death in 1922. Albert became a well-known art connoisseur and was a trustee of the Wallace Collection, chairman of the Royal School of Needlework, a Fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Society of Arts, and from 1961 until 1969 he was Chair of the Advisory Council of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Despite his keen interest in art, he began selling off paintings and other items to pay off debts. In the 1930s he was forced to sell off a small but immaculate Hans Holbein portrait of Henry VIII (now at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid) for £10,000 to finance his son's education. Although a large sum at the time, by 1998 it was reputed to be worth around £50 million. Unlike many country houses in Britain during the Second World War which were occupied by the military and converted into hospitals, training camps and barracks, Althorp Palace remained untouched, thanks to Albert who saw to it that they used the stables instead. A Wellington bomber crashed near the ice house during the war, killing all of its crew. Due to Spencer House being in a dangerous location in London during the Blitz, many of the pieces of furniture and items of the house were brought to Althorp for safekeeping, including numerous fireplaces and doors with curled "S" doorknobs, a signature of the Spencer family dating to the 18th century.

The estate was first opened to the public in 1953 by Albert, to mitigate against taxation, and Althorp had its own railway station called Althorp Park on the Northampton Loop Line until 1960. After his death in 1975, Albert passed Althorp to his son Edward John, 8th Earl Spencer, who had served as Equerry to King George VI (1950–52) and to Queen Elizabeth II (1952–54). Edward was a wine connoisseur and had an extensive wine cellar at Althorp. He made his own wine and attracted fellow connoisseurs from around the world to Althorp, although he did not sell much of it. During Edward's ownership of Althorp approximately 20% of the furnishings of Althorp were sold off. The divestment included eleven Van Dykes and nearly every religious painting in the collection, as well as estate housing, and drew severe public criticism, including from the heir.

Edward left the estate to his son, the current owner Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, after his death in 1992. As a teenager, Charles served as a tour guide at the house and acquired a deep knowledge of Althorp. The heir apparent is Charles' son Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp (born 1994). Charles has expressed concerns about the future of the estate and whether Louis might be forced to sell it. In 2005 Charles endorsed a furniture collection of replicas from the house, known as the Althorp Living History Collection.

Architecture and collections

Althorp house is described as standing in a low situation, "approached by a handsome avenue, beautifully shaded with trees". The house was originally a "classically beautiful" red brick Tudor building, and a Johannes Vorstermans painting dated to 1677 shows a smaller red house at Althorp and Holdenby House in the distance to the far right. Cosmo III noted that the interior of Althorp house was strongly influenced by Italian architecture, and remarked that it "may be said to be the best planned, and best arranged country seat in the kingdom; for though there may be many which surpass it in size, none are superior to it in symmetrical elegance". The current building dates to 1688. Diarist John Evelyn described it that year: "The house, or rather palace, at Althorpe is a noble uniform pile in form of a half H, built of brick and freestone 'a la moderne'; the hall is well, the staircase excellent; the rooms of state, galleries, offices, and furniture, such as may become a great prince. It is situate in the midst of a garden, exquisitely planned and kept and all this in a park walled in with hewn stone, planted with rows and walks of trees, canals and fishponds and stored with game." Its appearance was radically altered in the 18th century when the architect Henry Holland was commissioned to make extensive changes starting in 1788. Mathematical tiles were added to the exterior, brought from Ipswich, encasing the old red brick, and four Corinthian pilasters, made from Roche Abbey stone in Yorkshire, were added to the front. The stone used to make the pilasters was reportedly intended by Christopher Wren to be used in the construction of St Paul's Cathedral. Sash windows with glazing bars and "moulded stone

heads and surrounds" were added. as well as countless valuable pieces of porcelain and furniture. One of the rooms in the estate is called the Queen Mary bedroom, which was used by Queen Mary and George V during their visit to the estate in 1913. Some £2 million was spent on redecorating the house in the 1980s by Raine, Countess Spencer. This work has been reversed, and the interior returned to its original grand but understated appearance.

Ground floor

Wootton Hall and saloon

thumb|right|250px|The staircase at Althorp House

Wootton Hall is the grand hall entrance on the central south side of Althorp house. "Perfectly proportioned" with a two-storey high ceiling, it was cited by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "the noblest Georgian room in the county". It takes its name from the painter John Wootton who was commissioned by the family in 1733 to paint a number of massive paintings in his Marylebone studio to reflect the family's love of equestrian pursuits, particularly fox hunting. At the time, Wootton was considered to be the finest painter of horses in the country. The paintings still hang on the walls. The hall has a substantial collection of artefacts collected over the years. Aside from the hall porter's chair, there is a dozen or so lavish-looking hall chairs, one of which is a sedan chair, rediscovered in the stable block in 1911, which had once been in Spencer House.

A prominent feature of the Wootton Hall is its pair of Italian black and Beschia marble blackamoor torchères, originally given to the First Duke of Marlborough as a present from General Charles Churchill. In exceptionally good condition, they stand either side of the door into the saloon. These were discovered in the silt of the River Tiber and are depictions of slaves who once served in a Roman household. Several flags stand above them, including the White Ensign. The ceiling is intricately made, featuring flowers in the plaster, each one different, the work of Colen Campbell in the early 18th century. The black and white check marble floor is also a distinguishing feature of the room, but through most of its history this floor would have been left plain as horses and carriages would enter the hall inside. In the mid-19th century Frederick, the 4th Earl, had laid down brown and blue tiles, replaced by the marble floor which was added by his son Robert in around 1910. The floor gives significant depth to the hall and provides fine acoustics, so much that Diana would once practice her tap dancing in the hall as a teenager.

Beyond the Wootton Hall is the saloon, which was converted from an inner courtyard and roofed in 1650 by Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland. The saloon was the first room at Althorp to have electricity installed, and it contains an imposing oak staircase, added in the 1660s. Cosmo III noted Althorp's "spacious staircase of the wood of the walnut tree, stained, constructed with great magnificence; this staircase, dividing itself into two equal branches, leads to the grand saloon, from which is the passage into the chambers, all of them regularly disposed after the Italian manner, to which country the Earl was indented for a model of the design." Historically, the staircase was painted white. It is described as being "surprisingly shallow and delightfully uneven – a physical manifestation of the long history of the house". This section of the house was largely remodelled under Henry Holland, but it retains its Georgian elegance today, "gilded to within an inch of its life", with walls painted in a duck egg blue colour with forest green drapery and peach-patterned sofas. A large mirror with an exquisite gold frame stands between the two windows. The fireplace was added by the Chelsea stonemason Lancelot Edward Wood in 1802, and the ceiling by master builder Benjamin Broadbent of Leicester in 1865. also known as the Rubens room because of its four Rubens paintings, is also attributed to Broadbent. There are numerous paintings on the walls, including fifteen Joshua Reynolds portraits and a miniature portrait in one of the alcoves of Admiral Lord Nelson, an associate of George John, Second Earl Spencer. It contains two fireplaces made by John Vardy and James Stuart which were originally situated in Spencer House, and the room has the original 17th-century cornice. The paintings in the room were selected by the current owner Charles Spencer to honour John, Third Earl Spencer and his passion for foxhunting. and is situated next to the Sunderland room and at left angles to the library. The Marlborough room served as an "uncomfortable" drawing room until the 1990s when a Victorian rosewood dining table accommodating for up to 42 people was added, with 'squiggle-back' chairs attributed to George Seddon in 1800. The chimney piece of the room was made by Derval under Holland, The Broadbent ceiling is dated to 1865. Of note in the Garden Lobby aside from its many plates is a Sèvres tobacco jar with double strap handles, believed to be painted by Louis Jean Thévenet in 1765, two Chelsea vases decorated with putti which metaphorically represent the four seasons, which the Red Earl had bought as a gift for his wife Charlotte, an extremely finely carved Meissen flower bowl with hundreds of tiny gilded blooms which dates to around 1745, a Meissen card box, and a blue and gold cherubic Meissen chocolate set-for-one which was believed to have been made for Marie Antoinette in 1781 as a present celebrating the birth of her son Dauphin.

First floor

The picture gallery and chapel

The picture gallery stretches for on the first floor of the west wing, wide and high.