Hagley Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hagley Hall (grid reference SO920807), of Hagley, Worcestershire and its park are among the supreme achievements of eighteenth-century English architecture and landscape gardening. They remain largely the creation of one man, George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton (1709–73), secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters and briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before the death of his father in 1751, he began to landscape the grounds in the new "picturesque" style, and between 1754 and 1760 it was he who was responsible for the building of the house as it is seen today.
There has been a park at Hagley since the reign of Edward III, but the present outstanding landscape was created from about 1739 to 1764, with follies designed by Lord Camelford, Thomas Pitt of Encombe, James "Athenian" Stuart, and Sanderson Miller. The follies include Wychbury Obelisk on Wychbury Hill built in 1764 for Sir Richard Lyttelton and is visible for many miles; the Temple of Theseus built from 1759 to c.1762 at a cost of £300 a gift from Admiral Smith, Lyttelton's half-brother; other small classical buildings; a sham ruined castle (his lands did not contain a real one!) and the 'The Four Stones', or Ossian's Tomb as it was termed, on the summit of Clent Hill. Horace Walpole, notoriously hard to please, wrote after a visit in 1753, "I wore out my eyes with gazing, my feet with climbing, and my tongue and vocabulary with commending".
The hall itself was designed by Sanderson Miller and is the last of the great Palladian houses to be built in England.
On Christmas Eve 1925, a disastrous fire swept through the house destroying much of the Library and many of the pictures. Despite boiling lead pouring from the roof through the house, all those within managed to escape. At the height of the blaze when nothing more could be salvaged from inside, the 9th Viscount was heard to mutter "my life's work destroyed". It was thus to universal amazement that he and his wife lovingly and painstakingly restored the house, complete, save for the staff quarters on the top floor.
Today the hall is the family home to Lady Cobham, widow of the late Viscount Cobham. The house contains the finest example of Rococo plasterwork by Francesco Vassali and a unique collection of 18th-century Chippendale furniture and family portraits, including works by Van Dyck, Reynolds and Lely. It is set in 350 acres (1.4 km²) of superbly landscaped deer park graced by Fallow Deer of several colors. Wychbury Hill, although part of Lord and Lady Cobham's private land, is kept open to public thanks to their generosity.
(Lady Cobham is the first British woman to have sailed single-handed and non-stop around the world. She is also known as Lisa Clayton.)
A delightful 19th century account of the House and Park from Picturesque England (copyright expired!), along with the Lyttelton Family ghost story can be found transcribed here (thanks to Matthew Spong for the transcription).
The Great Western Railway built a series of 4-6-0 steam locomotives names after various halls. Locomotive 4930 was named Hagley Hall and is preserved on the nearby Severn Valley Railway.
[edit] External links
- Hagley Hall
- National Archives entry
- Approved Marriage places
- Locomotive 4930 Hagley Hall, the steam train presently on public view in the macarthur Park shopping centre in Swindon Wiltshire.
