Hampton Court, Herefordshire
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Hampton Court is a castellated country house in the English county of Herefordshire. It should not be confused with the much larger royal palace in south west London, which is often referred to as Hampton Court, and is alternatively known as Hampton Court Palace.
Hampton Court dates from 1427, when Sir Rowland Lenthall built the original house on an estate which had been granted to him some years previously by King Henry IV on the occasion of his marriage to the king's cousin Margaret Fitzalan, a daughter of the Earl of Arundel. Sir Rowland's house was a quadrangular courtyard house, and despite numerous alterations over the centuries the house has retained this basic form. It was owned by the Coningsby family from 1510 until the early 19th Century when the estate was purchased by John Arkwright, the son of the inventor and industrialist Richard Arkwright.
Some of the original oak panelling was removed, probably during the 17th Century, to the private house Wickton Court near Leominster (grid SO525500) where it still adorns the living room.
The house was remodelled in the 1830s and 1840s to give it more of a castle air, reversing earlier attempts to make it appear more regular and domestic. It has changed hands several more times and was restored by American businessman Robert Van Kampen in the late 20th century. It is now owned by Sola Scriptura, an American non-profit organisation funded by the Van Kampen family, and is available for conferences.
Hampton Court has a twelve acre garden which was largely created by the Van Kampens and is open to the public seven days a week throughout the summer months.
The house featured extensively in the 1970s BBC TV Series Survivors: large parts of the first series were filmed in and around the house in spring and summer of 1975. The house was empty at the time.
