Mereworth Castle

Mereworth Castle

Mereworth Castle in the 18th century
Location of Mereworth Castle in Kent
General information
Type Country house
Architectural style Palladian
Classification Grade I listed
Location Mereworth, Kent
Coordinates 51°15′14″N 0°23′25″E / 51.25389°N 0.39028°E / 51.25389; 0.39028
Construction started 1723
Completed 1725
Owner Mahdi Al-Tajir
Design and construction
Architect Colen Campbell
Capriccio with a view of Mereworth Castle. Francesco Zuccarelli and Antonio Visentini, 1746.

Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England.[1]

History

Mereworth by Paul Amsinck, engraved by Letitia Byrne, 1809.
Mereworth Castle, a postcard franked 1911.

Originally the site of a fortified manor licensed in 1332, the present building is not actually a castle, but was built in the 1720s as an almost exact copy of Palladio's Villa Rotunda.[2] It was designed in 1723 by Colen Campbell who had been commissioned by John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland.[3] The interior features plasterwork by Giovanni Bagutti and fresco painting by Francesco Sleter. The house is situated in a landscaped park and valley with a number of surrounding pavilions and lodges which are also Grade I listed.[4][5]

The house passed through descent to Barons Oranmore and Browne whose family seat it became. It was sold in 1930 [6] and used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II.[7] In the 1950s and 1960s it was owned by artist Michael Lambert Tree (1921–1999[8]), a son of Ronald Tree and an heir to the Marshall Field mercantile fortune, and his wife, the former Lady Anne Cavendish, a daughter of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Tree inherited the house from his uncle, Peter Beatty, who died on 26 October 1949.[9]

The Wateringbury Stream passes through the grounds of the castle. It powered a fulling mill at the eastern end of the castle grounds.[10][11]

Mereworth Castle is owned by Mahdi Al-Tajir, the former United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom and owner of the Highland Spring bottled water company,[12] who purchased it in 1976 for $1.2 million.[13] It is not generally accessible to the public, but does open on rare occasions for guided tours.

References

  1. ↑ "Mereworth Castle (main block) with moat walls to north, Maidstone Road (south side), Mereworth, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent". English Heritage. Retrieved 2008-05-20. This source attributes the plasterwork to Francesco Bagutti, but Giovanni Bagutti would appear to be more likely.
  2. ↑ 5 houses have been built in Britain based on Palladio's Villa Rotunda (the others being Nuthall Temple, Nottinghamshire [demolished]; Henbury Hall, Cheshire; Chiswick House, Greater London; and Foots Cray Place, Kent [demolished])
  3. ↑ "The Peerage". The Peerage. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  4. ↑ "Images of England, Pavilion to the North East of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone Road (south side), MEREWORTH, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent". English Heritage. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  5. ↑ "Pavilion to the North West and Stables of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone Road (south side), MEREWORTH, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent". English Heritage. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  6. ↑ Lord Oranmore and Browne's obituary Telegraph
  7. ↑ "Island farm". Islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  8. ↑ Colpus, Eve (2015). "Tree , Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice (1927–2010)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/103305. Retrieved 21 March 2015. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  9. ↑ "British tax may topple castle of a Field heir". Chicago Tribune. 20 June 1952.
  10. ↑ Watermills of the East Malling and Wateringbury Streams, Part 2, Chapter 1
  11. ↑ Watermills (Kent and the Borders of Sussex) p134.
  12. ↑ "Sunday Times Rich List 2010: Britain's richest see wealth rise by one third". The Daily Telegraph. 24 April 2010.
  13. ↑ Monday, Aug. 02, 1976 (1976-08-02). "BRITAIN: Dinner for 370,000, Please, James". TIME. Retrieved 2012-02-16.

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mereworth Castle.

Coordinates: 51°15′14″N 0°23′25″E / 51.2539°N 0.3902°E / 51.2539; 0.3902

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