- Mereworth Castle
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Mereworth Castle in the 18th century
Capriccio with a view of Mereworth Castle, 1746Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England.[1]
Originally the site of a fortified manor licensed in 1332, the present building is not actually a castle, but was built in the 1720s as an almost exact copy of Palladio's Villa Rotunda.[2] It was designed in 1723 by Colen Campbell who had been commissioned by John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland.[3] The interior features plasterwork by Giovanni Bagutti and fresco painting by Francesco Sleter. The house is situated in a landscaped park and valley with a number of surrounding pavilions and lodges which are also Grade I listed.[4][5]
The house passed through descent to Barons Oranmore and Browne whose family seat it became. It was sold in 1930 [6] and used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II.[7] In the 1950s and 1960s it was owned by Michael Lambert Tree, a son of Ronald Tree and an heir to the Marshall Field mercantile fortune, and his wife, the former Lady Anne Cavendish, a daughter of the 10th Duke of Devonshire.
The Wateringbury Stream passes through the grounds of the castle. It powered a fulling mill at the eastern end of the castle grounds.[8][9]
Mereworth Castle is owned by Mahdi Al-Tajir, the former United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom, who purchased it in 1976 for $1.2 million.[1] It is not generally accessible to the public, but does open on rare occasions for guided tours.
References
- ^ "Mereworth Castle (main block) with moat walls to north, Maidstone Road (south side), Mereworth, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent". English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=2&id=178867. Retrieved 2008-05-20. This source attributes the plasterwork to Francesco Bagutti, but Giovanni Bagutti would appear to be more likely.
- ^ 5 houses have been built in Britain based on Palladio's Villa Rotunda (the others being Nuthall Temple, Nottinghamshire [demolished]; Henbury Hall, Cheshire; Chiswick House, Greater London; and Foots Cray Place, Kent [demolished])
- ^ The Peerage
- ^ "Images of England, Pavilion to the North East of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone Road (south side), MEREWORTH, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent". English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=2&id=178868. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
- ^ "Pavilion to the North West and Stables of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone Road (south side), MEREWORTH, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent". English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=2&id=178869. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
- ^ Lord Oranmore and Browne's obituary Telegraph
- ^ Island farm website
- ^ Watermills of the East Malling and Wateringbury Streams, Part 2, Chapter 1
- ^ Watermills (Kent and the Borders of Sussex) p134.
Sources
- Stutchbury, Howard, The Architecture of Colin Campbell, Harvard University Press, 1967, 54-58. ISBN 0-674-04400-2
- Harris, John, The Palladians, Trefoil Publications Ltd, 1981, 66-67. ISBN 0-86294-000-1
- Country Life, XLVII, 808,876,912; XCV, 242; CIV,728; CXVI, 209
- Fuller, Michael (1980). The Watermills of the East Malling and Wateringbury Streams. Maidstone: Christine Swift..
- Fuller & Spain (1986). Watermills (Kent and the Borders of Sussex). Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society. p. 134. ISBN 0 906746 08 6.
External links
Categories:- Country houses in Kent
- Grade I listed buildings in Kent
- Grade I listed houses
- 1725 architecture
- Tonbridge and Malling
- Rotundas
- Palladian architecture
- Prisoner of war camps in the United Kingdom
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