This piece describes two lovely medieval houses in Kent,
both much restored, but still ravishing. Penshurst
Place has long been in the Sidney and Shelley families’ ownership and
remains in private hands. Leeds Castle
has had a number of owners but was lovingly restored and embellished by the
US-born heiress Olive, Lady Baillie, and is now owned by an Anglo-US charitable
medical trust.
 |
| Penshurst Place, Tonbridge, Kent |
There has been a substantial house at Penshurst since the 11th
century but it was bought by ex-Lord
Mayor of London and wool merchant Sir John de Pulteney in 1338 who built the
stone south front and Great Hall, which still stand after 600 years, before
expiring of the Black Death in 1349. It became a royal possession and was
extended in the 14th century but in 1552 Edward VI conferred it upon
his favourite courtier Sir William Sidney. His son Henry added the north and
west fronts of the house after marrying into the Dudley family, then Dukes of Northumberland.
His son, the celebrated Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney
(1554-86), was born and did much of his writing at Penshurst. He died of his
wounds aged 31 after fighting in the Protestant cause against Spain at the
Battle of Zutphen in the Netherlands. He epitomised the heroic Renaissance
courtier and the finest kind of English gentleman.
 |
| Sir Philip Sidney |
Ever since, sons have been named Sidney in his honour (I am
a case in point) and in the US there has been a recent vogue to name daughters
Sidney – I am sure they too will strive to be a credit to this famous name!
 |
| The Great Hall at Penshurst |
The Sidney family prospered and Robert Sidney became first
Earl of Leicester in 1616, although Republican Algernon Sidney was beheaded for
his part in the Rye House Plot of 1683, becoming a Whig martyr. There were 7
Earls, the last one impoverishing the deteriorating estate. A daughter married
Bysshe Shelley (grandfather of the great poet Percy Bysshe Shelley) and their
son John Shelley inherited Penshurst in 1799 from a Sidney grandmother. When
John was 21 he took the name and arms of his Sidney predecessors. John and his
son, created Lord De L’Isle and Dudley in 1835 renovated Penshurst Place, work
continued by later generations. The 6th Lord De L’Isle was awarded
the VC for bravery at Anzio, later becoming Governor-General of Australia
1961-65 and a founder and prominent speaker for the right-wing Freedom
Association. The 7th Lord succeeded in 1991.
 |
| Views of Penshurst's traditional Gardens |
Surrounded by a lovely garden, Penshurst, with its
distinguished history and unspoilt fabric, incorporates many of the best
features of a medieval English Stately Home.
…………………………………………………………..
Leeds Castle,
near Maidstone in Kent is externally spectacularly beautiful and is situated in
a fairy-tale setting of two islands by the River Len.
 |
| Leeds Castle on its Lakes |
 |
| Leeds Castle frontage |
The history of Leeds Castle is rather convoluted; suffice it to say that the first baronial stone castle there was built in 1130 and after changing hands several times it was bought in 1278 by Eleanor of Castile, Edward I’s queen. It remained in royal ownership until 1552 being rebuilt by successive monarchs and by William of Wykeham, founder of Winchester College and New College, Oxford.
In the 17th century it came into the ownership of
John Culpeper, a confidante of Charles II, who also made Culpeper co-proprietor
of about 5 million acres of land in Virginia between the Potomac and
Rappahannock rivers, part of which is now covered by the southern sector of
Washington DC. Culpeper’s son bought out his co-proprietors and the whole
estate passed to his daughter Katherine, who married Thomas, Lord Fairfax. The
Fairfaxes settled at Belvoir and the extended family became prominent in
Virginian society – one of whom, Sally Fairfax, was the love of George
Washington’s life.
 |
| The Henry VIII Banqueting Hall |
 |
| The 17th century Thorpe Hall Room |
Meanwhile Leeds Castle was “improved” in the 18th
century manner until its medieval character was restored during the 100-year
ownership of the Wykeham-Martin family. The Castle’s final private owner was
Olive, Lady Baillie, who bought it in 1926 and cherished it until her death in
1974.
Lady Baillie was an Anglo-American heiress to part of the
huge Whitney fortune through her mother. She married and divorced 3 times and
her last husband was baronet Sir Adrian Baillie. She was a socialite
entertaining in London and at Leeds Castle, which she embellished greatly. A
room was created from the panelling, doors and fire-place acquired from Thorpe
Hall near Peterborough. She placed fine works of art in the various rooms
including a 16th century triptych from Bruges, an Annunciation
wooden panel from Ulm, sketches by van Dyck, paintings by Pissarro and
Fantin-Latour and a splendid Tiepolo.
 |
| Pulchinelli's Kitchen by G B Tiepolo |
Leeds Castle does not have the family continuity and authenticity
of Penshurst, and it is now in part a modern conference centre, especially for
medical seminars. Undoubtedly Lady Baillie was a most generous benefactor, creating
and preserving an historic and beautiful place.
 |
| A cottage garden Rose at Leeds Castle |
SMD
28.10.13
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment