Eastnor Castle
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Eastnor Castle
| image = Eastnor Castle-geograph-3082480-by-Philip-Pankhurst.jpg
| caption =
| type = Mock castle
| locmapin = Herefordshire
| map_relief = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|52.0297|-2.3877|display=inline,title}}
| location = Eastnor, Herefordshire
| area =
| built = 1811-1820
| architect = Robert Smirke
| architecture = Gothic Revival
| governing_body = Privately owned
| designation1 = Grade I
| designation1_offname = Eastnor Castle
| designation1_date = 18 November 1952
| designation1_number = 1156712
| designation2 = Grade II listed building
| designation2_offname = Castle lodge and gates
| designation2_date = 10 January 1986
| designation2_number = 1156692
| designation3 = Grade II listed building
| designation3_offname = Portcullis lodge and retaining walls to the forecourt of Eastnor Castle
| designation3_date = 10 January 1986
| designation3_number = 1082629
| designation4 = Grade II listed building
| designation4_offname = Retaining wall to Lower Terrace on garden front of Eastnor Castle
| designation4_date = 10 January 1986
| designation4_number = 1082630
| designation5 = Grade II listed building
| designation5_offname = Retaining wall to Upper Terrace on garden front of Eastnor Castle
| designation5_date = 10 January 1986
| designation5_number = 1349512
}}
Eastnor Castle, Eastnor, Herefordshire, is a 19th-century mock castle. Eastnor was built for John Cocks, 1st Earl Somers, who employed Robert Smirke, later the main architect of the British Museum.
The castle was built between 1811 and 1820. Major schemes of interior decoration were carried out by A.W.N. Pugin in 1849–1850. Eastnor remains a private home, and is currently the residence of James Hervey-Bathurst, the grandson of Arthur Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers. It is a Grade I listed building. The surrounding gardens and parkland are designated Grade II*.{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000459|title=Eastnor Castle Park and Gardens|publisher=Historic England|access-date=13 March 2020}}
History
The estate was established in the late 16th century when the Cocks family purchased land in the area. Subsequent marriages into the Somers and Nash families helped provide the wealth and substance necessary to build the present imposing building, designed to look like one of the medieval castles guarding the Welsh borders.
The castle was built to the designs of Robert Smirke in 1812–20. A.W.N. Pugin made some internal alterations – including the decoration of the Gothic drawing room – in 1849–50, and George E. Fox made further changes in the 1860s. It is constructed of ashlar stonework, with a lead and slate roof concealed behind an embattled parapet. Cast-iron was used for the roof trusses and floor beams.{{NHLE|num=1156712|desc=Eastnor Castle|grade=I|access-date=1 May 2020}} It was constructed at a cost of £85,000,{{sfn|Brooks|Pevsner|2012|pp=219-221}} the equivalent of approximately £5.1 million at 2024 prices.{{cite web|url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator|title=Bank of England inflation calculator}}
The castle was criticised by Charles Locke Eastlake later in the 19th century:
It is a massive and gloomy-looking building, flanked by watch-towers, and enclosing a keep. To preserve the character at which it aimed, the windows were made exceedingly small and narrow. This must have resulted in much inconvenience within...The building in question might have made a tolerable fort before the invention of gunpowder, but as a residence it was a picturesque mistake.{{sfn|Eastlake|2012|p=79}}
The castle still has an operating flour mill, "one of the oldest in the county", built in the 18th century as Clencher's. In the 21st century, the water supply was "reinstated and the machinery overhauled so it is now workable".{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/smithsonian-channel/this-british-castle-still-has-a-functioning/|title=This British Castle Still Has a Functioning Flour Mill|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=13 March 2021}} As of 2020, the family occupied only a small part of the castle, "smaller rooms, and we mostly live in the kitchen, which was enlarged in 1992", according to James Hervey-Bathurst, who inherited the property from his mother,{{cite web|url= https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/18221244.englishmans-castle-keyhole-eastnor-castle|title=An Englishman's Castle: through the keyhole at Eastnor Castle|publisher=Hereford Times|date=8 February 2020}} the Hon. Mrs Elizabeth Hervey-Bathurst, in 1988.{{cite web|url=https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/7724750.estate-saddened-as-castle-couple-split|title=Estate saddened as castle couple split|publisher=Worcester News|date=25 January 2002}}
The castle's business was affected for some time in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but by mid-July 2020, restrictions were easing.{{cite web|url=https://eastnorcastle.com/the-great-outdoors-at-eastnor-castle-this-summer|title=Enjoy the Great Outdoors at Eastnor Castle this Summer|publisher=Eastnor Estate|access-date=13 March 2021}} The ironwork bridge over the weir, first installed in 1828, was reopened after restoration in 2021.{{cite web |title=Newly-restored weir bridge at Eastnor Castle opened by Lord Lieutenant |url=https://www.malverngazette.co.uk/news/19409116.newly-restored-weir-bridge-eastnor-castle-opened-lord-lieutenant/|first=Tom|last=Banner|publisher=Malvern Gazette |date=1 July 2021}} The castle is open to tours by the public on certain months of the year; it is also a wedding venue.{{cite web|url=https://www.historichouses.org/houses/house-listing/eastnor-castle.html|title=Eastnor Castle|publisher=Eastnor Estate|access-date=13 March 2021}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Eastnor Obelisk
In 1812 John Somers-Cocks, 2nd Earl Somers commissioned the construction of an obelisk on the Eastnor estate, to honour various members of his family. The architect was almost certainly Robert Smirke. Family members commemorated with plaques on the monument include John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, who served William III as Lord Chancellor, and Edward Charles Cocks, who was an intelligence officer on the Duke of Wellington’s staff and died during the Siege of Burgos in the Peninsular War in 1812.{{efn| Wellesley subsequently wrote to Cocks’ father; “Your son fell, as he had lived, in the zealous and gallant discharge of his duty… if Providence had spared him to you, [he had] acquirements and qualities to become one of the greatest ornaments of his profession, and to continue an honour to his family, and an advantage to his country”.{{sfn|Muir|2013|p=487}}}} The obelisk is situated in Eastnor Deer Park just over a mile away from the castle, and is now a Grade II* listed building.{{NHLE|num=1266786|desc=Obelisk at National Grid Reference SO 7523|grade=II*|access-date=25 October 2023}}
Media appearances and events
The car manufacturer Land Rover uses the Eastnor estate as a venue for potential customers to test-drive their vehicles.{{cite web|url=https://www.eastnor.landroverexperience.co.uk/|title=Land Rover Experience|publisher=Land Rover|access-date=16 December 2020}} The castle has been used as a location for various films, television programmes and music videos, including One More Time, starring Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr, the Slade video "Run Runaway", the 1986 film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost,{{cite web|title=The Canterville Ghost (TV 1987)|publisher=IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090792/|access-date= 3 November 2011}} the BBC TV adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1995, the American reality competition programme The Amazing Race,{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazing-race-11-teams-storm-castle-battlements/|title="Amazing Race:" 11 Teams Storm Castle Battlements|work=CBS News|date=27 September 2011|access-date=1 January 2020}} ITV's 2015 adaptation of Doctor Thorne,{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/travel/2016-10-12/doctor-thorne-visit-the-real-greshamsbury-park-west-wycombe-house-in-buckinghamshire/|title=Doctor Thorne: Visit the real Greshamsbury Park - West Wycombe House in Buckinghamshire|website=Radio Times}} and two episodes of HBO's Succession.{{cite web|url=https://eastnorcastle.com/when-succession-filmed-at-eastnor-castle/|title=When Succession Filmed at Eastnor Castle|publisher=Eastnor Estate|date=8 January 2020}}
Gallery
Front entrance to Eastnor Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1468597.jpg|Main entrance to Eastnor Castle in 1992
DSC7239 Gothic Drawing Room Eastnor.jpg|The Gothic Drawing Room
Eastnor Castle-3748830508.jpg|Interior
Eastnor Castle-3748830810.jpg|Great hall
Eastnor Castle - geograph.org.uk - 4250775.jpg|Distant view of the castle
Footnotes
{{notelist}}
Citations
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- {{Cite book
|last1 = Brooks|first1 = Alan
|last2 = Pevsner|first2 = Nikolaus
|author-link2 = Nikolaus Pevsner
|series=The Buildings of England
|title=Herefordshire
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNhxpwAACAAJ&q=herefordshire+brooks+pevsner
|year=2012
|publisher=Yale University Press
| location = New Haven, US and London
|isbn=978-0-300-12575-7
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Eastlake | first = Charles Locke
| author-link = Charles Eastlake
| title = A History of the Gothic Revival
| url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/908267827
| year = 2012
| orig-year = 1872
| publisher =Cambridge University Press
| location=Cambridge
| isbn = 978-1-108-05191-0
| oclc = 908267827
}}
- {{cite book
|last=Muir|first=Rory
|title=Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769–1814
|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/859834304
|year=2013
|volume=1
|location=New Haven, US and London
|publisher=Yale University Press
|isbn=978-0-300-20548-0
}}
External links
{{commons category|Eastnor Castle}}
- [http://www.eastnorcastle.com Eastnor Castle] - Wedding venue and corporate entertainment centre.
- [https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Eastnor+castle&m=text Photos of Eastnor at Flickr]
Category:Castles in Herefordshire
Category:Country houses in Herefordshire
Category:Gardens in Herefordshire
Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Herefordshire
Category:Houses completed in 1820
Category:Grade I listed buildings in Herefordshire