 Wimpole Hall
Wimpole Hall, regarded by many as the most majestic house in Cambridgeshire,
was strategically located close to two Roman roads giving easy access
to London. The house has changed a great deal since it was originally
built in the late 1630s in the form of a four-gabled manor house surrounded
by a rectangular moat.
For 250 years
the Chicheley family dominated the history of Wimpole Hall, and the south western
area of Cambridgeshire, purchasing an increasing number of manors into
their possession. After demolishing the old property at Wimpole, Thomas
Chicheley built the new Hall to the south east of the old site. It was
built in the 'new-style', allowing the symmetrically placed hall to be
entered through the centre of the south range, with a long gallery above.
At the time this was considered to be an extraordinary curiosity, but
Chicheley's novel plan allowed for the development of a typical, later
Stuart country house. However, building costs, and Chicheley's expensive
life style, soon forced him to sell Wimpole Hall to Sir John Cutler.
In 1693,
on Sir John's death, Wimpole Hall passed to his daughter and then, only
four years later on her death, by her husband Lord Radnor, who spent some
£20,000 on refurbishing Wimpole Hall. These works included the construction
of the Orangery to the west of the house, and a service wing to balance
it on the eastern side. Once again, however, Wimpole Hall had to be sold because
of the incredible financial strain it imposed.
With the marriage of its
new owner, Henrietta Cavendish-Holles to Lord Harley in the Ante Room,
Wimpole Hall was to enter an even more memorable phase. Lord Harley had a
passion for collecting and his aim was to make Wimpole Hall an important
centre for art and learning in the Georgian age. He dramatically changed
its interior, to the grand Baroque style, of which the chapel is the
finest surviving example
By 1720, Harley's guests were able to view his massive collection of books in the
five rooms built specifically to house them, and then later in the Great
Library, built as a major extension to the main house. Some of the beautiful
and intricate plasterwork on the Great Staircase survives today. Unfortunately,
with changing times the house became unfashionable and, in the 1730s, was
purchased by Lord Hardwicke, who converted Wimpole Hall to the Palladian style
we see today. Externally, he produced a more harmonious effect to the
structure, but inside the house was decorated in a more ostentatious nature.
A most exceptional
room at Wimpole Hall is the Yellow Drawing Room, designed by Sir John
Soanes for his friend, Philip Yorke who had recently inherited the property.
Quite fantastically, Soanes literally inserted a new room, combining both
ground and first floor rooms, with a dome at one end and a barrel-vaulted
section. This room is so spectacular, and splendidly decorated, that it
alone warrants a visit to Wimpole Hall.
In 1843, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert arranged a visit for two days and, in
their honour, two huge new wings were added. By 1930, with the maintenance
of country houses being so prohibitive, Wimpole Hall was let to tenants and
in 1936 Rudyard Kipling's daughter occupied the house. On her father's
death, she was able to purchase the estate and subsequently lavished much
care and attention on the restoration of Wimpole Hall. When she died in 1976,
the house's future was secured by her bequest to the National Trust. |
