Westonbirt House

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Westonbirt House in the late 19th century.

Westonbirt House is a country house in Gloucestershire, England. It belonged to the Holford family from 1665 until 1926. The first house on the site was an Elizabethan manor house. The Holfords replaced it first with a Georgian house, and then Robert Stayner Holford replaced that house between 1863 and 1870 with the present mansion which was designed by Lewis Vulliamy. It is constructed of high quality ashlar masonry and is on a grand scale. The exterior is in an Elizabethan style and has a symmetrical main block and asymmetric wings, one of them containing a conservatory. The interiors are in a sumptuous classical style. The house was fitted with the latest technology such as gas lighting, central heating, fireproof construction and iron roofs. It is now a Grade I listed building.

Extensive formal terrace gardens and 25 acres of ornamental woodlands were created around the house in the 19th century. Since 1928, the house has been occupied by a girls' boarding school called Westonbirt School. Westonbirt House is open to the public twice a year, in October and in June. The gardens are open more frequently, but only on certain dates during the school holidays.

Robert Stayner Holford, who inherited Westonbirt in 1839, founded the Westonbirt Arboretum on former common downland across the road from the house, a mile away. (He also remodelled the gardens, diverted the main road, relocated the villagers and built a new house). The arboretum was developed over the next few decades by him and his son Sir George Lindsay Holford. Since the younger Holford never married, the house and arboretum passed to his eldest sister's son the 4th Earl of Morley, who sold the house by 1928. The family gave the arboretum to the Nation in 1956.^[1]It is now one of the most important arboreta in the United Kingdom. It is in government ownership and is open to the public on a regular basis.