Wimpole Hall

Wimpole Hall is a country house located within the Parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England, about 8½ miles (14 km) southwest of Cambridge. The house, begun in 1640, and its 3,000 acres (12 km²) of parkland and farmland are owned by the National Trust 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 (between 1640 and 1670), James Gibbs (between 1713 and 1730), James Thornhill (1721), Henry Flitcroft (around 1749), John Soane (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. 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 and Henry Wise (1693–1705), Charles Bridgeman (1720s), Robert Greening (1740s), 'Capability' Brown (1767), and Humphry Repton (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. Elsie, the daughter of Rudyard Kipling 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 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), a folly (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 Chicheley (c.1613–1699)
*1686 Sir John Cutler (d.1693)
*1693 Charles Robartes, 2nd 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 Mortimer (1689–1741)
*1740 Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (1690–1764)
*1764 Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke (1720–1790)
*1790 Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757–1834)
*1834 Charles Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke (1799–1873)
*1873 Charles Yorke, 5th Earl of Hardwicke ('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

External links

* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-wimpolehall/ Wimpole Hall information at the National Trust]
* [http://www.wimpole.org/ Welcome to Wimpole]
* [http://www.gardenvisit.com/g/wim2.htm Gardens Guide information]