Hampton Court Castle, also known as Hampton Court, is a

castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

country house in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

. The house is in the parish of Hope under Dinmore south of

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster i ...

and is a Grade I listed building, which is the highest category of architecture in the statutory protection scheme. The castle and grounds can be visited by the public and are also available as a venue for weddings and other events.

History

Hampton Court dates from 1427. Sir Rowland Lenthall built the original house on an estate which had been granted to him some years previously on his marriage to the king's cousin Margaret Fitzalan, a daughter of the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The ...

. Informally the grant occurred in the time of Henry (of) Bolingbroke, as King Henry IV was due to the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

which was a complex and intermittent civil war widely described as a cousins' monarchal feud before he gave it to Lenthall. Sir Rowland's house was a

quadrangular Quadrangle or The Quadrangle may refer to: Architecture * Quadrangle (architecture), a courtyard surrounded by a building or several buildings, often at a college Various specific quadrangles, often called "the quad" or "the quadrangle": North ...

courtyard house A courtyard house is a type of house—often a large house—where the main part of the building is disposed around a central courtyard. Many houses that have courtyards are not courtyard houses of the type covered by this article. For example, la ...

and has retained this basic form. In other ways the house has been significantly altered.

Successive owners

It was owned by the noble

Coningsby Coningsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, 13 miles (22 km) north west of Boston and 8 miles (13 km) so ...

family from 1510 until 1781, when it was inherited by George Capel, Viscount Malden, son of the 4th Earl of Essex. He changed his name to Capel-Coningsby and remodelled the building to the designs of the architect

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

. Historic England reports that the castle was "altered early C18 by Colen Campbell for Lord Coningsby and remodelled and restored in the early C19 by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville for Richard Arkwright". In 1810 the estate was purchased by John Arkwright, the grandson of the inventor and industrialist Richard Arkwright. Some of the original oak

panelling Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...

was taken probably during the 17th century to Wickton Court, a grand house near

and remains a feature of its living room. The house was remodelled in the 1830s and 1840s to restore a castle-like layout, exterior and decoration, reversing earlier attempts to make it appear more regular and domestic. It was sold by

John Stanhope Arkwright Sir John Stanhope Arkwright (10 July 1872 – 19 September 1954) was a British Conservative Party politician. Family life Born in London, he was the great-great grandson of the cotton-spinning industrialist Sir Richard Arkwright and the son ...

in 1910 followed by a gradual succession of conveyances. Between 1924 and 1972 it was the seat of

Viscount Hereford Viscount Hereford is the oldest and only extant viscountcy in the Peerage of England, making the holder the Premier Viscount of England. The title was created in 1550 for Walter Devereux, 10th Baron Ferrers of Chartley. History The Devereux ...

and was bought by American businessman

Robert Van Kampen Robert D. Van Kampen (1938–1999) was an American businessman, who served as a member of various organizational boards in the business world and Christian ministry. Van Kampen's business career took him into the investment banking world, and he b ...

in 1994. He died in 1999. The formal gardens were opened with a celebration by the family in the year 2000, where the

Indiana Wesleyan University Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) is a private evangelical Christian university headquartered in Marion, Indiana, and affiliated with the Wesleyan Church. It is the largest private university in Indiana. The university system includes IWU—Mari ...

Chorale was featured as a sacred choir and some members as a small madrigal choir. Hampton Court Castle and grounds were sold by the Van Kampen family in 2006 to Graham Ferguson Lacey who began to operate it under Hampton Court Property Holdings Ltd (HCPH). In January 2016, the house was for sale at the price of £12M, having been advertised for sale for more than a year at prices of up to £16M. It was described as part of a property with 26 bedrooms and 25 bathrooms. It also includes a conservatory designed by Joseph Paxton.

Gardens

Sunken garden at Hampton Court - geograph

The gardens are a particular feature, and include an organically managed

kitchen garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

, as well as a maze, a secret tunnel,

Dutch garden Dutch garden refers firstly to gardens in the Netherlands, but also, mainly in the English-speaking countries, to various types of gardens traditionally considered to be in a Dutch style, a presumption that has been much disputed by garden historia ...

, island pavilions and a 150-year-old

wisteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north ...

arch. Hampton Court has a garden which was largely created by the Van Kampens and is open to the public throughout the summer months, and now offers special events such as outdoor theatre productions, small concerts and family days out. The house (empty) and grounds featured extensively in the first season of the 1970s BBC television series '' Survivors'', filmed in spring and summer of 1975.

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Hampton Court, Herefordshire
Official sitePhotos of Hampton Court and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
Country houses in Herefordshire Gardens in Herefordshire Tourist attractions in Herefordshire Historic house museums in Herefordshire Grade I listed buildings in Herefordshire