Mereworth Castle
| Mereworth Castle | |
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Mereworth Castle in the 18th century
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 Location of Mereworth Castle in Kent
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| General information | |
| Type | Country house |
| Architectural style | Palladian |
| Classification | Grade I listed |
| Location | Mereworth, Kent |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Construction started | 1723 |
| Completed | 1725 |
| Owner | Mahdi Al-Tajir |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Colen Campbell |
Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England.[1]
Contents
History
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 artist Michael Lambert Tree (1921–1999[8]), 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. Tree inherited the house from his uncle, Peter Beatty, who died on 26 October 1949.[9]
The Wateringbury Stream passes through the grounds of the castle. It powered a fulling mill at the eastern end of the castle grounds.[10][11]
Mereworth Castle is owned by Mahdi Al-Tajir, the former United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom and owner of the Highland Spring bottled water company,[12] who purchased it in 1976 for $1.2 million.[13] It is not generally accessible to the public, but does open on rare occasions for guided tours.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 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])
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lord Oranmore and Browne's obituary Telegraph
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Watermills of the East Malling and Wateringbury Streams, Part 2, Chapter 1
- ↑ Watermills (Kent and the Borders of Sussex) p134.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mereworth Castle. |
- Images of England website including a description for listing purposes
- The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
- York University website entry
- 1930s photographs
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- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Buildings by Colen Campbell
- Country houses in Kent
- Grade I listed buildings in Kent
- Grade I listed houses
- Houses completed in 1725
- Tonbridge and Malling
- Rotundas (architecture)
- Palladian architecture
- World War II prisoner of war camps in the United Kingdom
- Villas in the United Kingdom
- 1725 establishments in Great Britain
