
Farnborough Hall is a
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 ...
in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
near to the town of
Banbury
Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census.
Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...
, (). It has been owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
since 1960 when Geoffrey Holbech endowed the house and estate, and is still administered by the Holbech family; the house is a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
History
Ambrose Holbech acquired the Farnborough estate in 1684 from the Ralegh family, who had owned it since the thirteenth century.
Archaeological research has demonstrated that the Raleghs had re-sited the hall from its former, moated location earlier in the seventeenth century.
The new house was built of
Hornton stone. Although it was Ambrose Holbech who had purchased the property, it was his son William who began to renovate it after his marriage to Elizabeth Arlington in 1692.
William Holbech inherited the estate, and, after his return from a
Grand Tour in the 1730s, began a scheme of work to make it a suitable setting for the display of the art and antiquities he returned with.
His collection included ceramics and sculpture, as well as paintings by
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of cityscapes or ...
and
Giovanni Paolo Panini
Giovanni Paolo, also known as Gian Paolo Panini or Pannini (17 June 1691 – 21 October 1765), was an Italian Baroque painter and architect who worked in Rome and is primarily known as one of the ''vedutisti'' ("view painters"). As a painter, Pani ...
.
The interiors of the house include extremely fine plasterwork undertaken by
stuccatore William Perritt.
The hall was remodelled in the
Palladian style
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
–1750, for William Holbech, perhaps by the designer
Sanderson Miller
Sanderson Miller (1716 – 23 April 1780) was an English pioneer of Gothic revival architecture and landscape designer. He is noted for adding follies or other Picturesque garden buildings and features to the grounds of an estate.
Early life ...
.
Much of what is known about this period comes from a work written by Miller's great-grandson Reverend George Miller, who published a history of Farnborough in his ''Rambles Round the Edge Hills,'' published in 1900''.
''
In 1771, another
William Holbech inherited the estate. Since 2015 the Trust has been working to restore the parkland to the design shown on a surviving estate plan that dates to 1772.
From 1815 to 1816, another Holbech commissioned
Henry Hakewill
Henry Hakewill (4 October 1771 – 13 March 1830) was an English architect.
Early life
Henry Hakewill was born on 4 October 1771 to English painter and decorator John Hakewill and Anna Maria Cook.
Hakewill was a pupil of John Yenn , and ...
to build a new coach-house and remodel the rose garden, and path down to the cascade – referred to today as 'Granny's Walk'.
During the First World War, the hall was adapted to become a hospital, and was known as Farnborough Auxiliary Hospital. After the war the originals of the Canaletto and Pannini paintings were sold by Ronald Holbech, although the final publication of the Will of Lieutenant W. H. Holbech, Ronald's older brother, states that "his household effects, etc. at Farnborough Hall, are to devolve as heirlooms with the property as settled on 2nd February 1910. The residue of his property is left equally to his brother, Ronald Acland Holbech, and his sisters Olive Ruth Holbech and Marjory Walrond Holbech."
For example, one of the paintings by Canaletto that was sold was entitled ''Venice, the Grand Canal looking East with Santa Maria della Salute.
''
During the Second World War the house was used as an auxiliary military hospital.
The estate was endowed to the National Trust in 1960 by Geoffrey Holbech,
after Geoffrey inherited the house and estate from his late older brother at the end of the Second World War. As of 2022, the Holbech family continued to live in the hall, and administer seasonal visitor access on behalf of the Trust.
Gardens and parkland
The parkland is a rare surviving example of the
ferme ornée
The term ''ferme ornée'' as used in English garden history derives from Stephen Switzer's term for 'ornamental farm'. It describes a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. During the eighteenth ce ...
(ornamental farm) style of landscaping.
It combined agricultural practicality with fashionable design: farm buildings were ornamental, yet suited for their purpose, and could be features within the landscape.
Sanderson Miller
Sanderson Miller (1716 – 23 April 1780) was an English pioneer of Gothic revival architecture and landscape designer. He is noted for adding follies or other Picturesque garden buildings and features to the grounds of an estate.
Early life ...
, a contemporary of
Capability Brown
Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style.
Unlike other architects ...
, remodelled the parkland at the request of William Holbech II.

One of the most significant introductions to the garden design was the Terrace Walk, which was constructed on an existing slope and has 26 viewing points along it.
It is 1200m long.
Closest to the Hall is the Game Larder overlooking St Botolph's Church, Farnborough; this is followed by the Ionic Temple and Oval Pavilion.
At the end of the Terrace Walk, is the 18m high Obelisk, which overlooks the
Warmington Valley.
The Obelisk was first recorded by a visitor in 1746.
It was rebuilt in 1828 after it collapsed in 1823 and has the names of many visitors etched into the base – most notably one of an Italian
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
that was inscribed during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
[Nicholson, Jean et al: ''The Obelisks of Warwickshire'', page 19. Brewin Books, 2013] The Terrace scheme also included a cascade; repairs to it were undertaken in 2016. The park also included a Georgian amphitheatre.
Water
Miller also introduced a more naturalistic look to the parkland, which included the construction of sinuous pond, known as the Serpentine, designed to look like a river.
Repairs to which were undertaken in 2015.
Miller also engineered part of the River Sor, elevating it 5 metres higher, to form an ornamental pool which could be viewed from the house.
Known as the Oval Pond, this feature had dried out; as of 2016, its outline could still be seen in earthworks.
Above it lay Sourland Pond, which was constructed on land that was already waterlogged.
Planting

Miller used trees, such as
Scots pines, to draw attention to features in the landscape, both close to the house and further away.
In addition, between 1786 and 1790, several
Cedar of Lebanon
''Cedrus libani'', commonly known as cedar of Lebanon, Lebanon cedar, or Lebanese cedar (), is a species of large evergreen conifer in the genus ''Cedrus'', which belongs to the pine family and is native to the mountains of the Eastern Medite ...
trees were given to Mrs William Holbech by her great-grandson Lord Warwick, for the estate.
The gardens also include the remains of an orangery and a rose garden.
Legacy
The estate and gardens at Farnborough are notable not just for the preservation of the
ferme ornée
The term ''ferme ornée'' as used in English garden history derives from Stephen Switzer's term for 'ornamental farm'. It describes a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. During the eighteenth ce ...
(ornamental farm) style of landscaping.
They also represent an important stage in the development of the
English landscape garden
The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...
movement in the first half of the eighteenth century.
It is a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
In popular culture
The first mention of the landscape garden in literature is found in a poem called ''Edgehill'' by
Richard Jago.
Farnborough Hall featured in the 1966 film ''
Grand Prix
( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to:
* Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition
** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship
*** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...
''.
Gallery
File:Farnborough Hall Ionic Temple.jpg, Ionic Temple
File:Farnborough Hall Oval Pavilion.jpg, Oval Pavilion
File:Farnborough Hall Game Larder.jpg, Game Larder
A game larder, also sometimes known as a deer or venison larder, deer, venison or game house, game pantry or game store, is a small domestic outbuilding where the carcasses of Game (hunting), game, including deer, game birds, hares and rabbits, ar ...
File:Farnborough Hall Obelisk.jpg, Obelisk
References
External links
Farnborough Hall information at the National Trust English Heritage: architectural description of listed buildingFarnborough Hall collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnborough Hall
Banbury
Country houses in Warwickshire
National Trust properties in Warwickshire
Grade I listed buildings in Warwickshire
Historic house museums in Warwickshire
Grade I listed houses
Grade I listed parks and gardens in Warwickshire
Cherwell District
Grade I listed parks and gardens in Oxfordshire
Stratford-on-Avon District