Sulgrave Manor is a mid-16th century
Tudor hall house in
Sulgrave
Sulgrave is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north of Brackley. The village is just south of a stream that rises in the parish and flows east to join the River Tove, a tributary of t ...
,
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
, UK, built by Lawrence Washington, the 3rd great-grandfather of
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
, first
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
.
The manor passed out of the hands of the Washington family in the 17th century and by the 19th had descended to the status of a farmhouse. In 1911,
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
, a former US president, suggested a memorial to commemorate 100 years of peace between the United Kingdom and the United States, and the manor was bought for this purpose in 1914. Between 1920 and 1930 the manor was restored, and a garden was created by
Reginald Blomfield. Sulgrave Manor is now administered by a trust and 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
The ancestors of
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
originated in
Wessyngton in the north-east of England in the 12th century after assuming
tenancy
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
of the area from the
Bishop of Durham
The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...
in exchange for land at
Hertburn. In the 14th century they moved south, to
Warton in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, and in the fifteenth, to
Sulgrave
Sulgrave is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north of Brackley. The village is just south of a stream that rises in the parish and flows east to join the River Tove, a tributary of t ...
in
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
.
Northamptonshire had been prominent in the
wool trade since the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, and Lawrence Washington achieved success as a
wool trader and built Sulgrave Manor between 1540 and 1560. His great-grandson, also
Lawrence, was born at the manor in 1602.
The Washingtons sold the house in the mid-17th century, and a descendant,
John Washington
John Washington (1633 – 1677) was an English-born merchant, planter, politician and military officer. Born in Tring, Hertfordshire, he subsequently immigrated to the English colony of Virginia and became a member of the planter class. In add ...
(1631–1677), great-grandfather of George, emigrated to Virginia in 1656. In the 18th century Sulgrave was tenanted to a series of farmers. The west wing was demolished circa 1780,
and by the early 20th century the manor was derelict.
The
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent () was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands (now in ...
, signed on Christmas Eve 1814, had brought an end to the British-American
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
. In 1911,
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
suggested a permanent memorial to commemorate one hundred years of peace between the two nations.
Sulgrave Manor was seen as an appropriate monument and, following a fundraising campaign supported by
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
George w ...
, was purchased in 1914 at a cost of $42,500.
Additional funding for ongoing maintenance was given by the
National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Work on the project was delayed by the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, but in 1920
Sir Reginald Blomfield began a reconstruction of the house, and the creation of a garden as a suitable setting. Blomfield rebuilt the demolished west wing of the hall to regain the lost symmetry of the design.
By the late 20th century, underfunding threatened the continuing existence of the house.
An endowment from the estate of the philanthropist
Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 2, 1999) was an American philanthropist and a horse breeding, breeder of thoroughbred horse racing, racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Muse ...
, together with other donations and
National Lottery funding, provided the necessary resources to "secure the long term survival of the property".
The manor receives circa 20,000 visitors a year, many of them from the United States. Bruce Bailey,
Bridget Cherry
Bridget Cherry (born 17 May 1941) is a British architectural historian who was series editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides from 1971 until 2002, and is the author or co-author of several volumes in the series.[Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...]
, in their revised 2013 ''Northamptonshire'' volume of the
Pevsner Buildings of England series, describe it as a "mecca for American visitors".
Architecture and description
The house consists of three bays and two storeys with attics. The construction material is
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
.
The central porch, and the east wing are original 16th century work, while the north wing dates from the 18th century, and the west wing is an early 20th century rebuilding by Blomfield. The house follows the traditional
hall house plan, with the fireplace in the Great Chamber being original. The screen is a 20th-century Blomfield replacement.
Listing designations
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
is the statutory body responsible for the listing of buildings in England. It uses a three-tier rating system, classifying listed buildings into three categories; Grade I, the highest grade, for buildings of “exceptional interest”, Grade II*, the next grade, for buildings of “more than special interest”, and Grade II, the lowest grade, for buildings of “special interest”.
Historic England has designated the Manor House, and its attached brewhouse, as Grade I.
The
gate piers either side of the entrance have Grade II designations, as has Manor Cottage.
The Manor House gardens are separately listed as Grade II on the
.
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
External links
Sulgrave Manor Trust homepageVideo tour of Sulgrave Manor produced by the Mount Vernon Estate
{{commons category
Grade I listed houses
Grade I listed buildings in Northamptonshire
Country houses in Northamptonshire
Washington family residences
Grade II listed parks and gardens