Kimbolton Castle is a country house in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. It was the final home of

King 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 six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

's first wife,

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat of the Earls and Dukes of Manchester from 1615 until 1950. It now houses Kimbolton School.

History

Gatehouse to Kimbolton School - geograph

The castle was built by Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex, in the late 12th century. The inner court was rebuilt by Anne, Duchess of Buckingham, in the late 15th century. The castle was acquired by Sir Richard Wingfield in 1522 but after his death in 1525, was inherited by his eldest son, Charles. The Wingfield family reconstructed the medieval castle as a Tudor manor house, parts of which survive to this present day.

was sent here in April 1534 for refusing to give up her status or deny the validity of her marriage. In July 1534, a fool in the retinue of the diplomat Eustache Chapuys tried to swim the moat, drawing attention to her imprisonment. The

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

land climate damaged her health, and she died in the castle on 7 January 1536. The castle was bought by Sir John Popham in 1600 and was later purchased by Sir Sir Henry Montagu, later created 1st Earl of Manchester, in 1615. Charles Montagu, 4th Earl of Manchester, who was created 1st Duke of Manchester in 1719, had many works of reconstruction carried out between 1690 and 1720. These works included the rebuilding of the south wing, which had fallen down, to a design by Sir John Vanbrugh who was assisted by another great architect of the time,

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor ( – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects ...

. George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester commissioned

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 the gatehouse which was constructed in 1766. Many members of the Montagu family (Earls and Dukes of Manchester) are buried at St Andrew's Church in Kimbolton. Several Montagu monuments still exist in the South Chapel, while the Montagu vault (extended in 1853) is located beneath the North Chapel. Alexander Montagu, 10th Duke of Manchester sold the contents in 1949, and the castle and were sold to Kimbolton School in 1951.

Warren House

On the grounds of the castle is Warren House, where the warrener (estate's rabbit gamekeeper) used to live, converted into a late 18th-century

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

on command of one of the castle's inhabitants to add interest to his horizon, complete with a single decorative façade facing the castle; it is

Grade II* listed 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, H ...

and owned by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

. The Trust renovated the house, under a design from

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Oliver Caroe, between 2011 and 2012.

References

External links

Castle websiteVisitor information from Kimbolton School's website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518171600/http://www.kimbolton.cambs.sch.uk/page/?title=Public+Facilities&pid=4 , date=18 May 2021
Warren House Landmark Trust information page
Country houses in Cambridgeshire John Vanbrugh buildings Tourist attractions in Cambridgeshire Historic house museums in Cambridgeshire Buildings and structures in Huntingdonshire Castles in Cambridgeshire Gardens by Capability Brown Catherine of Aragon

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

History

Warren House

See also

References

External links