Audley End
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Audley End House is a largely early 17th-century
country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
outside
Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. Th ...
, Essex, England. It is a prodigy house, known as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. Audley End is now one-third of its original size, but is still large, with much to enjoy in its architectural features and varied collections. The house shares some similarities with
Hatfield House Hatfield House is a Grade I listed English country house, country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean architecture, Jacobean hous ...
, except that it is stone-clad as opposed to brick.Hadfield, J. (1970). ''The Shell Guide to England''. London: Michael Joseph. It is currently in the stewardship of
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
but long remained the family seat of the Barons Braybrooke, heirs to the estate of whom retain a portion of the contents of the house, the estate, and the right to repurchase as an incorporeal hereditament. Audley End railway station is named after the house.


History

Audley End was the site of Walden Abbey, a
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
monastery that was dissolved and granted to the
Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...
Sir Thomas Audley in 1538 by
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
. The abbey was converted to a domestic house for him with the conversion of the church, which had three floors inserted into the nave, the rest of the church itself being demolished. In addition a great hall was constructed on the site of the abbott's lodging, the same position occupied by the later Jacobean great hall. The house was a key stop during
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
's Summer Progress of 1578. The progress was to be, like her progresses to Cambridge and Oxford in 1564 and 1566, filled with scholarship, learned debates, and theatrical diversions. Writers and scholars from nearby
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
used the occasion to write papers and speeches. One of these was Gabriel Harvey who by 1578 had been appointed professor of
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
at Cambridge. For the Audley End presentations, Harvey had prepared a series of lectures to be delivered to prominent members of the court in attendance with the Queen. Among them was the
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (; 12 April 155024 June 1604), was an English peerage, peer and courtier of the Elizabethan era. Oxford was heir to the second oldest earldom in the kingdom, a court favourite for a time, a sought-after ...
.


Jacobean Audley

The house was demolished by Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (Lord Howard de Walden and
Lord Treasurer The Lord High Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in England, below the Lord ...
), and a much grander mansion was built, primarily for entertaining James I. He visited the newly built house in January and July 1614. The layout reflects the processional route of the king and queen, each having their own suite of rooms. It is reputed that Thomas Howard told King James he had spent some £200,000 creating this grand house, and it may be that the king had unwittingly contributed. In 1619, Suffolk and his wife Catherine Howard, Countess of Suffolk were found guilty of embezzlement and sent to the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
but a huge fine secured their release. Suffolk died in disgrace at Audley End in 1626. The design of the house was attributed in later sources to the Earl of Northampton and a master mason Bernard Janssen. The surveyor John Thorpe drew a plan. The Suffolks commissioned tapestries of Hannibal and Scipio from Francis Spiering of Delft, probably for Audley. James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk inherited a debt of £132,000 from his father and he married to reduce the debt. Susanna Howard was devout and they lived here during the 1640s.


Charles II

Noted English naval office bureaucrat and diarist
Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...
visited Audley End and described it his diary entry for 8 October 1667. At this time, the house was on the scale of a great royal palace, and became one when Charles II bought it in 1668 for £50,000 for use as a home when attending the races at Newmarket. It was returned to the Suffolks in 1701. Around 1708,
Sir John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restorat ...
was commissioned to work on the site, and parts of the house were gradually demolished until it was reduced to its current size. The main structure has remained little altered since the main front court was demolished in 1708 and the east wing came down in 1753. Sir John Griffin, fourth Baron Howard de Walden and first Baron Braybrooke, introduced sweeping changes before he died in 1797. In 1762, he commissioned Capability Brown to landscape the parkland, and
Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...
to design new reception rooms on the house's ground floor in the neoclassical style of the 18th century with a formal grandeur. Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke, who inherited the house and title in 1825, installed most of the house's huge picture collection, filled the rooms with furnishings, and reinstated something of the original Jacobean feel to the state rooms.


Second World War

Audley End was offered to the government during the
Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...
but the offer was declined due to its lack of facilities. It was requisitioned in March 1941 and used as a camp by a small number of units before being turned over to the
Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...
. The SOE used the house as a general holding camp before using it for its Polish branch. Designated Special Training School 43 (STS 43), it was a base for the Cichociemni. A war memorial to the 108 Poles who died in the service stands in the main drive; the Polish SOE War Memorial, unveiled on 20 June 1983, was Grade II listed in 2018.


English Heritage

After the war, the ninth Lord Braybrooke resumed possession. In 1948 the house was sold to the Ministry of Works, the predecessor of
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
. In 2014, an
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
report identified that there is a high risk of flooding at Audley End. It detailed an "extensive threat to the estate affecting a wide zone alongside the River Cam", affecting access, masonry and land surface.


Gardens and grounds

The Capability Brown parkland includes many of the neo-classical monuments, although some are not in the care of English Heritage. The grounds are divided by the River Granta, which is crossed by several ornate bridges one of which features on the back cover of the BBC Gardeners' World Through the Years book, and a main road which follows the route of a
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
. The Temple of Concord, by John Deval, was added as a romantic folly in 1790. With help from an 1877 garden plan and William Cresswell's journal from 1874, the walled kitchen garden was restored by Garden Organic in 1999 from an overgrown, semi-derelict state. Completed in 2000, it was opened by
Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
and features in a book presented to him on his
wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...
to Camilla Parker Bowles. It now looks as it would have done in late Victorian times; full of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers which have been supplied to the Dorchester Hotel. It now boasts 120 apple, 60 pear and 40 tomato varieties. File:Audeley-end palace in Essex, as it was in it's splendor.jpg, 18th-century print of "Audeley-end Palace" ... "as it was in File:Audley End Morris edited.jpg, Audley End in 1880 File:Audley End House Back.jpg, The garden front File:Audley End over River Cam - panoramio.jpg, view from River Cam File:Audley End House - aerial image A (13922330685).jpg, Aerial view from the front File:Audley End House & Gardens - aerial image B (13951755643).jpg, Aerial rear


Paintings

The house contains a number of paintings, many still the property of the family of the Barons Braybrooke.


Media appearances

The house and grounds have been used in popular television and radio shows, including '' Flog It!'', '' Antiques Roadshow'' and '' Gardeners' Question Time''. The exteriors and gardens were also used for the 1964 feature film ''
Woman of Straw ''Woman of Straw'' is a 1964 British crime thriller directed by Basil Dearden and starring Gina Lollobrigida and Sean Connery. It was written by Robert Muller (screenwriter), Robert Muller and Stanley Mann, adapted from the 1954 novel ''La Femme ...
'' starring Gina Lollobrigida,
Sean Connery Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to Portrayal of James Bond in film, portray the fictional British secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in motion pic ...
and Ralph Richardson. During 2017, scenes were filmed at Audley End for '' Trust'' produced by
Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Shallow Grave (1994 film), Shallow Grave'' (1994), ''Trainspotting (film), Trainspotting'' (1996) and its sequel ''T2 Tra ...
and based on the life of John Paul Getty III. On 7 September 2018, scenes were shot for ''
The Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
''. Previously, interior shots of the Library and Great Hall had been used to portray rooms in Balmoral Castle,
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...
and
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
. Audley End appears in ''The Victorian Way'', a series of videos on English Heritage's
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel. The videos, shot at Audley End, feature the character of Mrs Crocombe (based on Avis Crocombe, head cook at the house during the 1880s) demonstrating Victorian cuisine and other aspects of household management in an English country house in the late 19th century.


See also

* Audley End Railway, miniature railway in the grounds * Audley End railway station


References

* * *


External links

{{Commons category, Audley End House
Audley End Information at English Heritage

Friends of Audley End
Volunteer group supporting the house
'Four centuries of change in a historic country house'
on Google Arts & Culture + Country houses in Essex English Heritage sites in Essex Gardens by Capability Brown Gardens in Essex Grade I listed buildings in Essex Grade I listed houses Grade I listed museum buildings Grade I listed parks and gardens in Essex Historic house museums in Essex Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom Royal residences in England Training establishments of the Special Operations Executive Buildings and structures in Uttlesford